Flow cytometric analysis of the dna content of adenocarcinoma of the lung, especially for patients with stage 1 disease with long term follow‐up

• Published in: Cancer 1995-05, Vol.75 (10), p.2461-2465
• Main Authors: Tanaka, Isao, Masuda, Ryo, Furuhata, Yoshiaki, Inoue, Masaharu, Fujiwara, Mutsunori, Takemura, Tamiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adenocarcinoma; Adenocarcinoma - genetics; Adenocarcinoma - pathology; Adenocarcinoma - secondary; Adenocarcinoma - surgery; Adult; Aged; Aneuploidy; Biological and medical sciences; Combined Modality Therapy; Diploidy; DNA ploidy; DNA, Neoplasm - analysis; DNA, Neoplasm - genetics; Female; Flow Cytometry; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; long term follow up; lung; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Lung Neoplasms - surgery; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Paraffin Embedding; Pneumology; Pneumonectomy; Prognosis; Survival Rate; Treatment Outcome; Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum
• ISSN: 0008-543X; 1097-0142
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19950515)75:10<2461::AID-CNCR2820751011>3.0.CO;2-D

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.