A study of the morphological parameters of cervical squamous epithelium

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Published 13 January 2003 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation D C Walker et al 2003 Physiol. Meas. 24 121 DOI 10.1088/0967-3334/24/1/309

0967-3334/24/1/121

Abstract

Electrical impedance spectroscopy is a technique that has been investigated as a potential method for the diagnosis of epithelial carcinomas. Finite element modelling can provide an insight into the patterns of current flow in normal and pathological epithelium and hence aid in the process of probe design optimization. In order to develop a finite element model of the structure of normal and precancerous cervical squamous epithelium, it was first necessary to obtain the mean values and ranges of a number of morphological tissue parameters. The most important parameters in discriminating normal from neoplastic tissue were identified as being cell size and shape distribution, nuclear-to-cytoplasmic volume ratio and volume of extracellular space. A survey of the literature revealed an absence of reliable quantitative data for these parameters. We therefore present the results of our own basic image analysis on normal and pathological tissue sections, which we hope will be of use to other workers wishing to model cervical squamous epithelium, or other similar tissue structures.

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10.1088/0967-3334/24/1/309