Two-Dimensional Plot of the Image Analysis of Ovarian Tumor Peritoneal Cytology Specimens to Distinguish Malignant from Negative Cases.
- 1Laboratory of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Department of Laboratory Sciences, Gunma University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
- 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Abstract
Objective and methods
Computer-assisted image analysis (CAIA) was used to analyze Papanicolaou-stained peritoneal cytology specimens from 142 patients with ovarian tumors. A two-dimensional plot was then created with the area of the cell/cell cluster on the x-axis and the maximum value of the connected nuclear area within that cell/cell cluster on the y-axis, after which the patterns were classified.Results
Ovarian cancer positive cases displayed a predominantly vertical pattern (V-type) or a diagonal pattern (D-type) cell/cell cluster plots, whereas the majority of the negative cases showed a small cluster pattern (S-type) or a horizontal pattern (H-type). In suspicious cases, almost equal frequencies of V-, D-, and S-types were observed. We found that V- and D-type patterns in negative cases were attributed to the presence of clusters of mesothelial cells, lymphocytes, and histiocytes. However, the amount of cell clusters in the area where positive cells were distributed (positivity rate) was significantly lower in both negative and suspicious cases than in positive cases. Evaluating the plot pattern and positivity rate together allowed us to reliably distinguish between malignant and negative cases.Conclusion
Although previous CAIA of cytological specimens has fundamentally focused on nuclear area, morphology, and color evaluation, our method of combining cell/cell cluster area and the connected nuclear area in two dimensions reflects a part of the algorithm used by humans in cytological diagnosis and can become a promising analytical method in the near future. This study highlights the importance of actively incorporating diagnostic indicators used by humans into CAIA.
Related
- Peritoneal Lavage Cytology and Radiologically Evident Peritoneal Carcinomatosis Within 12 Months in Advanced Digestive Cancer Without Macroscopic Peritoneal Disease: A Single-Centre Prognostic Study
- Quantifying the diagnostic time gap in precision oncology: A retrospective analysis of potential time savings from same-day cartridge-based molecular testing versus next-generation sequencing in cytology specimens
- Whole peritoneal radiotherapy in malignant ascites: a hypothesis-generating conceptual review
- Temporal patterns of serial intraoperative peritoneal cytology among patients undergoing cup-assisted surgery for endometrial cancer: a single-center observational process-monitoring study
- Novel Creation of Three-Dimensional Virtual Reality Neuroanatomy Specimens Through Freely-Available Software.
BibTeX
@article{konno2026twodimensional,
title = {{Two-Dimensional Plot of the Image Analysis of Ovarian Tumor Peritoneal Cytology Specimens to Distinguish Malignant from Negative Cases.}},
author = {Momoka Konno and Sayaka Kobayashi and Rio Shibanuma and Yoshimi Nishijima and Ryohei Oeda and Akira Iwase and Masanao Saio},
journal = {Journal of cytology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.4103/joc.joc_158_25},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899042},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Two-Dimensional Plot of the Image Analysis of Ovarian Tumor Peritoneal Cytology Specimens to Distinguish Malignant from Negative Cases.
AU - Momoka Konno
AU - Sayaka Kobayashi
AU - Rio Shibanuma
AU - Yoshimi Nishijima
AU - Ryohei Oeda
AU - Akira Iwase
AU - Masanao Saio
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
JO - Journal of cytology
DO - 10.4103/joc.joc_158_25
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899042
AB - Objective and methods Computer-assisted image analysis (CAIA) was used to analyze Papanicolaou-stained peritoneal cytology specimens from 142 patients with ovarian tumors. A two-dimensional plot was then created with the area of the cell/cell cluster on the x-axis and the maximum value of the connected nuclear area within that cell/cell cluster on the y-axis, after which the patterns were classified.Results Ovarian cancer positive cases displayed a predominantly vertical pattern (V-type) or a diagonal pattern (D-type) cell/cell cluster plots, whereas the majority of the negative cases showed a small cluster pattern (S-type) or a horizontal pattern (H-type). In suspicious cases, almost equal frequencies of V-, D-, and S-types were observed. We found that V- and D-type patterns in negative cases were attributed to the presence of clusters of mesothelial cells, lymphocytes, and histiocytes. However, the amount of cell clusters in the area where positive cells were distributed (positivity rate) was significantly lower in both negative and suspicious cases than in positive cases. Evaluating the plot pattern and positivity rate together allowed us to reliably distinguish between malignant and negative cases.Conclusion Although previous CAIA of cytological specimens has fundamentally focused on nuclear area, morphology, and color evaluation, our method of combining cell/cell cluster area and the connected nuclear area in two dimensions reflects a part of the algorithm used by humans in cytological diagnosis and can become a promising analytical method in the near future. This study highlights the importance of actively incorporating diagnostic indicators used by humans into CAIA.
SN - 0970-9371
SN - 0974-5165
ER -