ИСТИНА

The results of immunostaining were evaluated with the original method that comprises an automatic morphometric analysis system and image segmentation by the selected colour range on the basis of the RGB system. In each slide, three fields of view at 200-fold magnification were selected in the tumour centre, invasive margin and peritumoural mucosa. The average area of CD8+ cells (square micrometres) was estimated for each compartment. The average area of CD8+ cells in the tumour centre and invasive margin showed no prognostic significance, but in the peritumoural mucosa, it proved to be a new independent negative prognostic factor for gastric cancer (hazard ratio (HR)=2.10; confidence interval (CI): 0.87–4.92). The negative prognostic significance of the new parameter is comparable with the significance of the TNM stage (HR=1.91; CI: 0.91–4.61). We also compared our evaluation method with the widely used “hot spots” method, and the results obtained with our method showed a stronger correlation with prognosis (for CD8+ cells in the peritumoural mucosa with the “hot spots” method, HR=1,005 (CI: 0,999–1,011, p<0,01); with our method, HR=1,599 (CI: 0,519–4,917, p<0,01).