PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF MONOLAYER-CULTURE PATTERNING IN PRIMARY-CELL CULTURE OF ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

The growth of primary cell cultures of oesophageal cancer was compared with the clinical outcome of patients from whom the cancers were take n. Ninety-three patients underwent curative resection, with no operati ve deaths, and were divided into three groups according to the monolay er culture pattern of the primary cell culture: culture from 43 patien ts (46 per cent) grew no malignant cells (group 1), 21 (23 per cent) p roduced monolayer epithelial growth (group 2) and the rest (from 29 pa tients) established cell lines (group 3). The 5-year survival rate of patients in group 2 (29 per cent) and group 3 (23 per cent) was signif icantly lower (P<0.005) than that of those in group 1 (51 per cent). M onolayer epithelial growth potential is a significant prognostic facto r in patients with oesophageal cancer.