The Mathematical Morphology of Human Normal Tissue and Brain Tumor

Yoshihiko Yoshii¹, Kohei Sugiyama², Yoji Komatsu¹, Akio Hyodo¹, and Tadao Nose¹

¹Department of Neurological Surgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305, Japan
²Computer Bild Co., Ltd., 4-1, Oohara 3-chome, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130, Japan

(Received September 1, 1990; Accepted January 18, 1991)

Keywords: Morphometry, Organon, Brain Tumor, Tumor Cord, Voronoi's Method

Abstract. The authors histologically investigated a minimum organization (organon) of human organs by using TAS plus and Voronoi's method, and considered the growth of human glioma from the data obtained by these methods. Three myocardial, two boney, and two intestinal tissues were investigated in normal human organs, and 22 astrocytomas, 11 oligodendrogliomas, and 8 ependymomas were studied for tumor-growth. In a capillary of 4 mm diameter, one vessel feeds 4 (± SD 2) myocardial fibers, in a radius of 15 (±SD 4), mm and an area of 578 (±SD 264) mm². Osteon had a diameter of 154-199 mm and an area of 17096-28887 mm². The organon of the intestinal glad had a diameter of 78 (± SD 14) mm and an area of 4024 (± SD 1325) mm². In the proliferating area of human glioma, it is hypothesized that one tumor cord (TC) occupies an area of approximately 340 mm² with a mean radius of 40 mm, and if the size of a tumor cell were 10 mm, the intercellular distances might be less than 22 mm in those TCs. In conclusion, this method will contribute to the biological interpretation of human glioma and must give a useful information of a choice of a therapeutic modality.