Background and methods: A series of 70 consecutive patients with laryngeal carcinoma treated by induction chemotherapy is reported. The prediction of the response to induction chemotherapy was evaluated by nuclear morphometric and stereological analysis of the tumor cells.
Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the nuclear form factor (FF, p < 0.021) and nuclear contour index (NCI, p < 0.017) between the groups of patients with a complete response (CR), partial response (PR) or no response (NR) to induction chemotherapy. Comparison of the groups of patients with partial response or complete response to IC with the group with no response yielded statistically significant differences in the nuclear form factor (FF, p < 0.002), nuclear contour index (NCI, p < 0.0032) and nuclear orientation angle (NOA, p < 0.036).
Conclusion: Nuclear morphometric analysis of the tumor cells was a useful tool for predicting response to induction chemotherapy in a significant number of the patients with laryngeal tumors in our series.