Fractal dimension of the bone marrow in metastatic lesions

We previously reported that the distribution of the cells in normal bone marrow is fractal and self-similar. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the same is true in metastatic tumors. Thirty-two bone marrow biopsy sections (3 to 5 μm thick) of 28 patients were used to measure the fractal dimensions of the metastatic tumor cells' distribution. Microscopic images were obtained and were used for the fractal measurements. In the two-dimensional images, the fractal dimensions were 1.98 ± 0.02 (95% ± 5% cellularity), suggesting a compact nonfractal structure. The dimensions, however, were 1.72 ± 0.1 (56% ± 11% cellularity) for the normal components, with a P-value of