Karyometry of the colonic mucosa.

OBJECTIVE The study summarizes results of karyometric measurements in epithelial cells of the colorectal mucosa to document evidence of a field effect of preneoplastic development among patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma or adenoma. METHODS Karyometric analyses were done on high-resolution images of histologic sections from 48 patients with colorectal adenocarcinomas and 44 patients with adenomas and on images from matching normal-appearing mucosa directly adjacent to such lesions, at a 1-cm and 10-cm distance from the lesions or from the rectal mucosa of adenoma patients, as well as from 24 healthy normal controls with no family history of colonic disease. RESULTS The nuclei recorded in the histologically normal-appearing mucosa of patients with either colorectal adenoma or adenocarcinoma exhibited differences in karyometric features in comparison with nuclei recorded in rectal mucosa from patients who were free of a colonic lesion. These differences were expressed to the same extent in tissue adjacent to the lesions and in normal-appearing tissue as distant as the rectum. CONCLUSIONS The nuclear chromatin pattern may serve as an integrating biomarker for a preneoplastic development. The field effect might provide an end point in chemopreventive intervention trials.