OBJECTIVE To study the relationship between atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) and bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC). METHODS Morphometric, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural analyses were performed in 4 patients with low grade AAH, 5 with high grade AAH and 7 with BAC. RESULTS The mean nuclear areas of high grade AAH and BAC were greater than those of low grade AAH (P<0.05); p53 protein expression was negative in 4 cases of low grade AAH,while the positive rates in high grade AAH and BAC were 40% (2/5) and 57% (4/7), respectively. CONCLUSION The development of BAC is stepwise. AAH appears to be a lesion closely related with BAC, probably as its genuine precursor.
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