Clinical variables of the patients.

<p>Clinical variables of the patients.</p

Segmented nucleus (left) of a myeloma cell and its pseudo 3D transformation (middle).

<p>On the right side, the log-log-plot for the determination of the fractal dimension (FD), which is calculated from the slope of the ideal regression line (black) obtained by curve fitting. X-axis shows the logarithms of the inverse values of the size of the structuring element and y axis the logarithmic values of the fractal areas. (compare with the main text). R² represents the goodness-of-fit of the real values (red), when compared with ideal regression line (black) and can be interpreted as a measure of “fractal quality”.</p

Mean fractal dimension as a function of the number of nuclei examined in an individual case.

<p>The mean value stabilized after examination of 30–40 cells.</p

Segmented images of myeloma cell nuclei, classified by their grade of maturity and chromatin structure.

<p>A: Nucleus with a more mature chromatin structure; its FD was 2.074935 and R² = 0.999330. B: a more immature nucleus with a less organized chromatin structure presenting FD = 2.223 and R² = 0.99896. C: Nucleus with a blastic feature: FD = 2.1759 and R² = 0.9961. D: Nucleus with irregular and disorganized chromatin: FD = 2.2629 and R² = 0.99931</p

Overall survival of the myeloma patients categorized by ISS stage.

<p>Kaplan-Meier plot. Log rank-test: p = 0.0005.</p

Overall survival categorized by the presence or absence of additional risk factors [2].

<p>Kaplan-Meier plot. Log rank-test: p = 0.02.</p