High-Resolution Optical Imaging of Benign and Malignant Mucosa in the Upper Aerodigestive Tract: An Atlas for Image-Guided Surgery

Figure 2

Features of benign and malignant squamous epithelium. Benign (left) and malignant (right) epithelium from the surface of the tonsil. The boxed area is magnified to display differences in nuclear size, density, and pleomorphism. Note that nuclei in benign tissue are small, punctuate dots that are similarly sized and evenly spaced, while malignant nuclei are larger (red arrow), pleomorphic and irregularly spaced with crowding and loss of normal architecture.