Figure 3.

(a) Doubtful for tumour cells—SurePath, staining Papanicolaou, lens 20×. Clinically erosive OLP. The background is mostly clear. In the lower left field is a stromal tissue fragment with mechanically altered nuclei; this correlates with an erosive process. There are several mature squamous cells lying singly and three larger groups of cells. In the upper right field, the basophilic cells are more immature, a sign of regeneration. The group of mature cells in the upper central field shows cytoplasmic hypereosinophilia and amphophilia. There seems to be some degree of anisonucleosis. (b) Doubtful for tumour cells—detail, lens 40×. On high power and in this plane of focus marked variation in nuclear size can be appreciated (factor 2–3). The larger nuclei are rather darker, i.e., more hyperchromatic, and the chromatin is slightly coarse. Nuclear contours are still fairly smooth. These findings are commonly reactive. A mild squamous intraepithelial neoplasia (SIN1) cannot be excluded. We perform DNA-karyometry on these cases. DNA-aneuploidy should prompt invasive biopsy for histology. With DNA-euploidy we would recommend clinical follow-up and repeat brush cytology after 12 months.