Clinical Significance of Flow Cytometric Analysis of DNA Content in Colorectal Carcinoma

Kazunori Tsujita, Kimihiko Funahashi, Masashi Watanabe, Hiroshi Nakamura, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Natsuki Tokura, Yasushige Nagasawa, Tadahisa Ogai, Kazuo Kobayashi, Kenzo Yanagita, Shintaro Kuramoto, Toshifumi Yoshio, Shiro Tsujimoto¹⁾

First Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University
Department of Pathology, Toho University Omori Hospital

The DNA content of 201 large bowel carcinomas was measured by flow cytometry to evaluate the prognostic significance of DNA ploidy and DNA index (DI). DNA ploidy correlated with lymphatic vessel invasion, venous invasion, lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis and Dukes' stage. Among all patients those with aneuploid cancer had a significantly worse outcome than those with diploid cancer. When patients were divided by Dukes' stage, the patients with aneuploid tumor had a significantly worse survival than those with diploid tumor in the cases of Dukes' B. The cumulative survival rate was worse in DNA aneuploid with DI above 1.41 than in aneuploid with DI below 1.40. In multivariate analysis by quantification theory type II, Dukes'stage, depth of invasion, and presence or absence of hepatic metastasis were stronger predictors of survival than DNA content, and DI had a closer connection with prognosis than DNA ploidy. These results sugest that not only DNA ploidy but also classification of aneuploid according to DI are valuable prognostic indicators in large bowel carcinoma.

Key words
flow cytometry, DNA content in large bowel cancer, prognostic indicator in large bowel cancer

Reprint requests
Kazunori Tsujita First Department of Surgery, Toho University School of Medicine
6-11-1 Omorinishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 143 JAPAN

Accepted
March 13, 1991

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