Tumor Cell Deoxyribonucleic Acid Content and Prognosis in Human Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Flow cytometry was used to study tumor tissue from 68 patients with stages I to III renal cell carcinoma who were followed for 1 to 4 years. Results of flow cytometry correlated extremely well with the clinical course of the patients: 21 per cent of those with diploid tumor cells had metastases during the interval of observation, compared to 89 per cent of those with aneuploid tumor cells. We concluded that flow cytometry helps to identify at the time of radical nephrectomy patients who are most likely to suffer recurrent tumor and, therefore, are candidates for early chemotherapy. If nuclear grading is applied in addition to flow cytometry the rates of false positive and false negative results in respect to prediction of prognosis are reduced to 3 and 14 per cent, respectively.