DNA ANEUPLOIDY IN GASTRIC-CARCINOMA - FLOW CYTOMETRIC DATA RELATED TO SURVIVAL, LOCATION, AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC FINDINGS

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of DNA ploidy of gastric carcinomas. Methods: The DNA content was analyzed by flow cytometry on archival paraffin-embedded material from tumors of 97 consecutive patients. Results: A multivariate analysis showed that the DNA ploidy pattern and lymph node metastasis were the only independent prognostic markers for survival (p = 0.01 and p = 0.02, respectively). The relative risk of death due to gastric cancer was three times greater for patients with DNA hypertetraploid tumors than for patients with DNA diploid tumors and twice as high for patients with lymph node metastasis as for patients without. Well and moderately differentiated carcinomas were more frequently aneuploid than tumors with poor differentiation (p = 0.047). There was no correlation between tumor ploidy pattern and location. In univariate analysis tumor growth through the serosal wall was predictive of poor survival (p = 0.003). Conclusions: DNA ploidy is an independent prognostic indicator for cancer-specific survival in gastric cancer.