Diagnostic features in two-dimensional light scattering patterns of normal and dysplastic cervical cell nuclei

Dysplastic progression in epithelial tissues is linked to changes in morphology and internal structure of cell nuclei. These changes lead to alterations in nuclear light scattering profiles that can potentially be monitored for diagnostic purposes. Numerical tools allow for simulation of complex nuclear models and are particularly useful for quantifying the optical response of cell nuclei as dysplasia progresses. In this study, we first analyze a set of quantitative histopathology images from twenty cervical biopsy sections stained with Feulgen-thionin. Since Feulgen-thionin is stoichiometric for DNA, the images enable us to obtain detailed information on size, shape, and chromatin content of all the segmented nuclei. We use this extensive data set to construct realistic three-dimensional computational models of cervical cell nuclei that are representative of four diagnostic categories, namely normal or negative for dysplasia, mild dysplasia, moderate dysplasia, and severe dysplasia or carcinoma in situ (CIS). We then carry out finite-difference time-domain simulations to compute the light scattering response of the constructed models as a function of the polar scattering angle and the azimuthal scattering angle. The results show that these two-dimensional scattering patterns exhibit characteristic intensity ridges that change form with progression of dysplasia; pattern processing reveals that Haralick features can be used to distinguish moderately and severely dysplastic or CIS nuclei from normal and mildly dysplastic nuclei. Our numerical study also suggests that different angular ranges need to be considered separately to fully exploit the diagnostic potential of two-dimensional light scattering measurements.