Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1991 Dec;44(12):1007–1011. doi: 10.1136/jcp.44.12.1007

New automated technique for assessing emphysema on histological sections.

M Gillooly 1, D Lamb 1, A S Farrow 1
PMCID: PMC494969  PMID: 1791200

Abstract

The assessment of emphysema in human lungs has traditionally been based on observations made on whole lung slices. These methods are inappropriate for the study of early emphysema, because as much as 75% of the alveolar wall surface area may have been lost by the time airspaces are visible to the naked eye. A new, automated image analysis system, the Fast Interval Processor (FIP), was used to measure airspace wall surface area per unit volume of lung tissue (AWUV). AWUV was measured on histological sections of lung tissue and expressed in mm2/mm3. The study sample consisted of resection specimens from 40 patients (32 men and 8 women whose ages ranged from 23-74 years). Histological sections from the inflated specimens were scanned using the FIP, and a mean AWUV value was calculated for each. The intra- and interobserver reproducibility of this method of measuring AWUV were examined. The results obtained using the FIP were also compared with those from an established image analysis system. The FIP is a fast, efficient technique which gave highly reproducible results comparable with those obtained with an established and much more time consuming measuring technique.

Full text

PDF
1007

Images in this article

1008Image
on p.1008

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bignon J., Khoury F., Even P., Andre J., Brouet G. Morphometric study in chronic obstructive bronchopulmonary disease. Pathologic, clinical, and physiologic correlations. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1969 May;99(5):669–695. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1969.99.5.669. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. DUGUID J. B., YOUNG A., CAUNA D., LAMBERT M. W. THE INTERNAL SURFACE AREA OF THE LUNG IN EMPHYSEMA. J Pathol Bacteriol. 1964 Oct;88:405–421. doi: 10.1002/path.1700880204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DUNNILL M. S. EVALUATION OF A SIMPLE METHOD OF SAMPLING THE LUNG FOR QUANTITATIVE HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. Thorax. 1964 Sep;19:443–448. doi: 10.1136/thx.19.5.443. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Depierre A., Bignon J., Lebeau A., Brouet G. Quantitative study of parenchyma and small conductive airways in chronic nonspecific lung disease. Use of histologic stereology and bronchial casts. Chest. 1972 Dec;62(6):699–708. doi: 10.1378/chest.62.6.699. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dunnill M. S. The recognition and measurement of pulmonary emphysema. Pathol Microbiol (Basel) 1970;35(1):138–145. doi: 10.1159/000162214. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gould G. A., MacNee W., McLean A., Warren P. M., Redpath A., Best J. J., Lamb D., Flenley D. C. CT measurements of lung density in life can quantitate distal airspace enlargement--an essential defining feature of human emphysema. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1988 Feb;137(2):380–392. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm/137.2.380. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gundersen H. J., Osterby R. Optimizing sampling efficiency of stereological studies in biology: or 'do more less well!'. J Microsc. 1981 Jan;121(Pt 1):65–73. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1981.tb01199.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hansen J. E., Ampaya E. P. Human air space shapes, sizes, areas, and volumes. J Appl Physiol. 1975 Jun;38(6):990–995. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1975.38.6.990. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hasleton P. S. The internal surface area of the adult human lung. J Anat. 1972 Sep;112(Pt 3):391–400. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McCartney A. C., Fox B., Partridge T. A., Macrae K. D., Tetley T. D., Phillips G. J., Guz A. Emphysema in the Blotchy mouse: a morphometric study. J Pathol. 1988 Sep;156(1):77–81. doi: 10.1002/path.1711560115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Nagai A., Yamawaki I., Thurlbeck W. M., Takizawa T. Assessment of lung parenchymal destruction by using routine histologic tissue sections. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1989 Feb;139(2):313–319. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm/139.2.313. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ryder R. C., Thurlbeck WM GOUGH J. A study of interobserver variation in the assessment of the amount of pulmonary emphysema in paper-mounted whole lung sections. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1969 Mar;99(3):354–364. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1969.99.3.354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Saetta M., Shiner R. J., Angus G. E., Kim W. D., Wang N. S., King M., Ghezzo H., Cosio M. G. Destructive index: a measurement of lung parenchymal destruction in smokers. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1985 May;131(5):764–769. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1985.131.5.764. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Saito K., Cagle P., Berend N., Thurlbeck W. M. The "destructive index" in nonemphysematous and emphysematous lungs. Morphologic observations and correlation with function. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1989 Feb;139(2):308–312. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm/139.2.308. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Shippey G., Bayley R., Farrow S., Lutz R., Rutovitz D. A fast interval processor (FIP) for cervical prescreening. Anal Quant Cytol. 1981 Mar;3(1):9–16. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Thurlbeck W. M., Anderson A. E., Janis M., Mitchell R. S., Pratt P., Restrepo G., Ryan S. F., Vincent T. A cooperative study of certain measurements of emphysema. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1968 Aug;98(2):217–228. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1968.98.2.217. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Thurlbeck W. M., Dunnill M. S., Hartung W., Heard B. E., Heppleston A. G., Ryder R. C. A comparison of three methods of measuring emphysema. Hum Pathol. 1970 Jun;1(2):215–226. doi: 10.1016/s0046-8177(70)80035-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Thurlbeck W. M. Internal surface area and other measurements in emphysema. Thorax. 1967 Nov;22(6):483–496. doi: 10.1136/thx.22.6.483. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Thurlbeck W. M. Measurement of pulmonary emphysema. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1967 May;95(5):752–764. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1967.95.5.752. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Thurlbeck W. M. The internal surface area of nonemphysematous lungs. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1967 May;95(5):765–773. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1967.95.5.765. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Tucker J. H., Shippey G. Basic performance tests on the CERVIFIP linear array prescreener. Anal Quant Cytol. 1983 Jun;5(2):129–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES