Morphometric Study of Primary Cutaneous Germinal Center Cell Lymphomas

Abstract

The mixed small and large cell type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the lymph node is associated with the most extreme degree of histological interobserver non-reproducibility. Histopathological examination of primary cutaneous germinal center cell (PCGCC) lymphomas of mixed cell subtype points out these difficulties. In order to morphometrically characterize PCGCC lymphomas, we have employed an image analyzer IBAS 2000 (Zeiss Kontron) to study seventeen centroblastic/centrocytic and centroblastic follicular and/or diffuse primary cutaneous lymphomas. The data obtained reveal morphometric differences in neoplastic cells between the follicular and diffuse patterns. In the follicular neoplasms, the cells tend to be smaller, more cleaved and more monomorphic than those observed in the diffuse forms. In all the follicular and diffuse cases examined, we have observed a unimodal population, indicating the absence of a clear-cut differentiation between centroblasts and centrocytes. Furthermore, the presence of a consistent broad intermediate population means that there is a continuum of area size and nuclear profile between centrocytes and centroblasts.