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Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology

ISSN for PRINT: 0731-8898

Institutional price:	$672.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2006, Volume25

546 pages

Issue price - $344.00

Methods for Detailed Histopathological Investigation and Localization of Biopsies from Cervix Uteri to Improve the Interpretation of Autofluorescence Data

Sara Palsson
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden; Science and Technology International, Honolulu, HI, 96813

Unne Stenram
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Pathology, Lund University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden

Marcelo Soto Thompson
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Aurelija Vaitkuviene
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Vilnius University Hospital; Institute of Materials Science and Applied Research, Vilnius University, 2040 Vilnius, Lithuania

Violeta Poskiene
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Vilnius University Hospital, 2040-LT, Vilnius, Lithuania

Reda Ziobakiene
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Vilnius University Hospital, 2040-LT, Vilnius, Lithuania

Jody Oyama
Science and Technology International, Honolulu, HI, 96813

Michael J. DeWeert
Science and Technology International, Honolulu, HI, 96813

Ulf Gustafsson
Science and Technology International, Honolulu, HI, 96813

Niels Bendsoe
Department of Dermatology, Lund University Hospital, Lund University Medical Laser Centre, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden; Department of Dermatology, Lund University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden

Stefan Andersson-Engels
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Sune Svanberg
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Physics, Lund Institute of Technology, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Katarina Svanberg
Lund University Medical Laser Centre; Department of Oncology, Lund University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden

ABSTRACT

Fluorescence spectroscopy is one of many optical methods that are potentially clinically useful for noninvasive detection and characterization of disorders on the cervical part of uterus, including precancerous lesions. The cervix uteri exhibits a biologically complex tissue and the morphology of a biopsy is generally not homogenous. The standard histopathological protocol accounts only for the most severe condition found within the biopsy and no information is given on other constituents potentially influencing the recorded fluorescence spectra. Spectra are usually correlated, using multivariate techniques, to the histopathological diagnosis of the biopsies. Since the probe volume of fluorescence spectroscopy is considerably smaller than the extension of the biopsy, this can cause problems in the search for correlation between the fluorescence signals and the pathological structures. In addition, the orientation and location of the biopsies are normally not recorded. We now report on the first detailed histopathological protocol where numerous tissue parameters, such as thickness and type of the epithelium and the number of blood vessels, glands, and inflammatory cells, are tabulated and the orientation and location of the biopsy are recorded as precisely as possible. Hopefully, the use of this protocol together with sophisticated mathematical methods will increase the probability to classify cervical disorders of the uterus, including precancerous lesions, with high sensitivity and specificity.