Nuclear DNA content and pathology in radically treated pancreatic carcinoma: The prognostic significance of DNA ploidy, histology and nuclear grade

✍ Scribed by Massimo Rugge; Fulvia Sonego; Fausto Sessa; Gioacchino Leandro; Carlo Capella; Cosimo Sperti; Claudio Pasquali; Francesco Di Mario; Sergio Pedrazzoli; Vito Ninfo

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 798 KB
• Volume: 77
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19960201)77:3<459::aid-cncr6>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

BACKGROUND.

Nuclear DNA content and pathology are considered to be prognostically relevant in several solid tumors, but controversial findings have emerged in pancreatic carcinoma (PC). Histopathology and DNA ploidy were each correlated with survival in radically treated PC to ascertain the hierarchy of their prognostic significance.

METHODS. DNA ploidy was assessed by flow cytometry (FC) in neoplastic tissue

samples from 60 patients with PC who were followed until death. Representative neoplastic areas were obtained by microdissection from archival paraffin embedded material (excluding any carcinoma with a coefficient of variation of the G,J G, peak higher than 8%). Histologic data and FC patterns were related to prognostic behavior using univariate multivariate statistical analysis.

RESULTS.

Aneuploid cancers were detected in 39 of 60 patients. Univariate analysis showed that histologic grade, nuclear grade, and ploidy were significantly related to prognosis. On multivariate analysis, only histologic grade and DNA ploidy (diploid vs. aneuploid) were significant with significant interaction.