Morphometry and cytological grading of chondroid tumors

Fine-needle cytology is effective in the diagnosis of bone tumours. As far the cytological grading of chondroid tumors concerns, the authors observed a concordance between cytology and histology in 4/7 grade I tumors, 26/29 grades II and III and 5/5 grade IV, respectively. Discrepancies concerning grade I tumors have been related to the cytological or histological criteria not correctly applied and to the non-representativeness of the cytological samples due to the heterogeneity of chondrosarcomas (1). We would like to remember the contribution that morphometry may offer to the difficult field of cytological grading of chondroid tumors mainly to the differentiation between benign and low-grade chondrosarcomas. In a small cytological series of benign chondroid tumors and well differentiated chondrosarcomas we found statistically significant differences between these entities by evaluating simple morphometric parameters such as nuclear Area, Perimeter and Max Diameter (4). This experience was subsequently repeated on histological material obtaining the same results (5). In the last years morphometry has lost most of the interest that it had gained in the eighties; nonetheless we think that the excellent performances of this simple, inexpensive and handy technique in the cytological grading of the tumors and, according to our experience, also in the discrimination between benign and malignant low-grade chondroid tumors might be still considered in this post-genomic era.