Nuclear roundness factor: A quantitative approach to grading in prostatic carcinoma, reliability of needle biopsy tissue, and the effect of tumor stage on usefulness

Abstract

Morphometric analysis and histologic grading were performed on case material from 26 patients. Relative nuclear roundness factor (RNRF) was calculated and correlated with clinical course in 14 patients undergoing prostatectomy for stage A or B prostatic carcinoma. The only patients with progression of disease were two with RNRF of 1.10. RNRF in cases without progression ranged from 0.98 to 1.07. Histologic grading by the methods of Gleason or the M.D. Anderson system failed to discriminate between the progressing and nonprogressing groups. However, when RNRF was measured in tumors initially diagnosed as stage C or D, four of eight were below 1.10, within the range of the nonprogressing low-stage cases. Thus, the usefulness of morphometry and RNRF may be limited to low-stage disease. It was additionally found that RNRF could not be reliably measured in needle biopsy specimens.