Article
A modified point count method as a practical approach to assess the tumor volume and the percent gland involvement by prostate carcinoma
Registro en:
ATHANAZIO, P. R. F. et al. A modified point count method as a practical approach to assess the tumor volume and the percent gland involvement by prostate carcinoma. Pathology – Research and Practice, v. 210, p. 312–317, 2014.
0344-0338
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.prp.2014.02.002
Autor
Athanazio, Paulo Roberto Fontes
Santos, Andréia Carvalho dos
Freitas, Luiz Antonio Rodrigues de
Athanazio, Daniel Abensur
Resumen
This study reports a modified point-count method for quantifying the extent of carcinoma in prostatectomy
specimens (n = 143), as adapted from Billis et al. (2003) [3]. The prostates were studied as follows:
the basal/apical margins were sampled using the cone method. The remainder of the gland was divided
into 12 quadrant-shaped regions that were sampled using two slices. Eight equidistant points were
marked directly on the coverslip over each fragment. The points inside the tumoral areas were counted
and expressed as both the percentage of prostate gland involvement by carcinoma (PGI) and the tumor
volume (TV). A significant correlation between the preoperative PSA levels and each of the three quantitative
estimations were observed, with improved correlations with the PGI and TV values obtained using
the point-count method (viz. number of slices involved (NSI) (r = 0.32), PGI (r = 0.39) and TV (r = 0.44)).
With the data sets stratified into three categories, all three methods correlated with multiple parameters,
including Gleason scores
≥7, primary Gleason scores
≥4, perineural/angiolymphatic invasion, extraprostatic
extension, seminal vesicle invasion and positive margins. All three quantitative methods were
associated with morphologic features of tumor progression. The results obtained using this modified
point-count method correlate more strongly with preoperative PSA levels.