Novel use of fluorescent microscopy in determining basement membrane integrity in ambiguous cases

Abstract

Indistinct basement membrane due to inflammation always poses a problem to the pathologists for commenting on micro-invasive squamous cell carcinoma. In such a situation, even a special stain would not be able to correctly demonstrate the basement membrane, which is necessary for estimating the depth of invasion. In this paper, we have proposed a novel fluorescent microscopy assisted visualization of basement membrane in such difficult situations. To further validate this approach, we then retrospectively investigated twenty such cases under a fluorescent microscope and could able to repeat the same result. As routine hematoxylin and eosin stained sections are required for evaluation, it is technically less demanding and less time-consuming.

Keywords: Basement membrane; Fluorescent microscopy; Micro-invasive squamous cell carcinoma; Oral cancer.