PLOIDY OF 36 STROMAL TUMORS OF THE GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY WITH FLOW-CYTOMETRY AND IMAGE-ANALYSIS

DNA ploidy was investigated by flow cytometry (FC) and image analysis (IA) in paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 36 stromal tumors of th e gastrointestinal tract. The results of both techniques were correlat ed with pathologic features of the tumors and survival. Ten (27.8%) tu mors were aneuploid by FC and IA. Most of the diploid tumors were iden tified by both techniques, but FC appeared to be superior to tissue se ction IA for identification of aneuploid tumors (25% vs. 13.8%). Aneup loidy by FC correlated with pathologic grade and mitotic index (P<.05) , and a trend to shout survival was also detected (P<.1). No similar c orrelation was found by IA. Enlargement and variation of nuclei may ex plain the discrepancy between FC and IA.