Accuracy of identification of tissue types in endoscopic esophageal mucosal biopsies used for molecular biology studies

Figures & data

Figure 1 Sections of esophageal epithelium from matched research and clinical biopsies from the esophagus. Research biopsy sections are shown on the left panel and the matched clinical biopsy sections are on the right panel. A–F are sections stained with ABPAS/D. G–L are sections stained with H&E. A and B show stratified squamous epithelium, C and D show columnar lined epithelium without intestinal metaplasia, E and F show columnar-lined epithelium with intestinal metaplasia, G and H show changes consistent with low grade dysplasia, I and J represent carcinoma in-situ, and K and L show invasive cancer.

Figure 2 Number of matches and mismatches between histopathology for research biopsy vs. clinical biopsy. The type of tissue present in the clinical biopsy is named on the X axis.

Notes: The number of biopsies for which there was a perfect match between clinical and research histopathology is shown above the ‘matches’ column. The number of biopsies for which there was a partial mis-match (ie, some degree of heterogeneity of tissue types) or a complete mismatch (ie, no commonality in tissue types) between clinical and research histopathology is shown above the ‘mismatches’ column.
Abbreviations: AC, adenocarcinoma; CLE, columnar-lined epithelium; D, dysplasia; IM, columnar-lined epithelium with intestinal metaplasia; SE, squamous epithelium.

Table 1 Matches and mismatches between research histopathology results vs. clinical histopathology

Research biopsy histology		Clinical biopsy histology
		SE	CLE		IM		D	AC
			with SE	no SE	with SE	no SE
SE		120a	22	0	6	2	0	0
CLE	With SE	2	7	1	1	1	2	0
	no SE	1	22	22b	18	11	7	0
IM	with SE	0	3	1	9	2	1	0
	no SE	0	5	1	28	55c	20	0
D		0	0	0	0	2	0	0
AC		0	0	0	0	0	0	5
Total		123	59	25	62	73	30	5

Notes: Grey highlighted areas are matches between research and clinical histopathology.

a Samples containing only SE;

b Samples containing only CLE;

c samples containing only IM.

Abbreviations: AC, adenocarcinoma; CLE, columnar-lined epithelium; D, dysplasia; IM, columnar-lined epithelium with intestinal metaplasia; SE, squamous epithelium.