A novel semi-quantitative method for measuring tissue bleeding
G. Vukcevic1, V. Volarevic2, S. Raicevic1, I. Tanaskovic3, B. Milicic4, T. Vulovic5 and S. Arsenijevic6
1Gynecologic and Obstetrics Clinic, Clinical Center of Montenegro, Montenegro, 2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Serbia, 3Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Serbia, 4Department of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Stomatology, University of Belgrade, Serbia, 5Center for Anesthesia, Clinical Center of Kragujevac, University of Kragujevac, Serbia and 6Gynecologic and Obstetrics Clinic, Clinical Center of Kragujevac, University of Kragujevac, Serbia.
Offprint requests to: Irena Tanaskovic, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 69 Svetozara Markovica Street, Kragujevac 34 000, Serbia. e-mail: irena.vuk@gmail.com
Summary. In this study, we describe a new semi-quantitative method for measuring the extent of bleeding in pathohistological tissue samples. To test our novel method, we recruited 120 female patients in their first trimester of pregnancy and divided them into three groups of 40. Group I was the control group, in which no dilation was applied. Group II was an experimental group, in which dilation was performed using classical mechanical dilators. Group III was also an experimental group, in which dilation was performed using a hydraulic dilator. Tissue samples were taken from the patients’ cervical canals using a Novak’s probe via energetic single-step curettage prior to any dilation in Group I and after dilation in Groups II and III. After the tissue samples were prepared, light microscopy was used to obtain microphotographs at 100x magnification. The surfaces affected by bleeding were measured in the microphotographs using the Autodesk AutoCAD 2009 program and its “polylines” function. The lines were used to mark the area around the entire sample (marked A) and to create “polyline” areas around each bleeding area on the sample (marked B). The percentage of the total area affected by bleeding was calculated using the formula: N=Bt x 100 / At where N is the percentage (%) of the tissue sample surface affected by bleeding, At (A total) is the sum of the surfaces of all of the tissue samples and Bt (B total) is the sum of all the surfaces affected by bleeding in all of the tissue samples. This novel semi-quantitative method utilizes the Autodesk AutoCAD 2009 program, which is simple to use and widely available, thereby offering a new, objective and precise approach to estimate the extent of bleeding in tissue samples. Histol Histopathol 29, 353-360 (2014)
Key words: Semi-quantitative method, Bleeding extent, Autodesk AutoCAD, Mechanical dilator, Hydraulic dilator
DOI: 10.14670/HH-29.353