Image analysis of mesothelioma. II. Discrimination of mesothelioma from metastatic serous ovarian adenocarcinoma.

Objective: To examine the utility of karyometric measurements in the differentiation of mesothelioma from metastatic serous ovarian adenocarcinoma.

Study Design: High-resolution images of 1,631 nuclei from 32 cases of mesothelioma and 742 nuclei from 15 cases of ovarian adenocarcinoma were recorded. A stepwise discriminant analysis and nonparametric classifier were applied.

Results: Nuclei from these two diagnostic categories appear very similar and occupy feature space with significant overlap. A nonparametric classification procedure provided acceptable correct classification.

Conclusion: For certain regions in feature space, cases could be unequivocally classified.