Flow cytometric analysis of the DNA content of adenocarcinoma of the lung, especially for patients with stage 1 disease with long term follow-up.
BACKGROUND
To assess the prognostic value of DNA ploidy in adenocarcinoma of the lung, the authors performed a flow cytometric study using paraffin embedded archival material from 160 patients (109 [68%] with aneuploid lesions, 51 [32%] with diploid lesions) who underwent surgical resection from 1982 to 1991.


METHODS
The proportion of DNA aneuploid tumors increased as the disease stage advanced, from 35 of 63 (55.5%) with Stage 1 disease to 15 of 20 (75.0%) with Stage 2 disease, to 40 of 53 (75.5%) with Stage 3a disease, to 19 of 24 (79.2%) with Stage 3b disease. However, this trend was not statistically significant. Comparison of the survival time of the 160 patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung with a median follow-up of 7.8 years revealed that patients with diploid tumors had significantly longer survival than did those with aneuploid tumors (P < 0.01).


RESULTS
Examination by stage showed that patients with Stage 1 disease with diploid tumors had significantly longer survival times than did those with aneuploid tumors (P < 0.05) but that there were no significant differences in clinical outcome in patients with Stage 2, 3a, and 3b diploid tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of aneuploid versus diploid DNA content in patients with Stage 1 adenocarcinoma of the lung is concluded to be useful in evaluating clinical outcome and prognosis.
Tanaka
I
I
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
Masuda
R
R
Furuhata
Y
Y
Inoue
M
M
Fujiwara
M
M
Takemura
T
T
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000782:Aneuploidy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D004171:Diploidy; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm