PLOIDY ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTS OF CONCEPTION BY IMAGE AND FLOW-CYTOMETRYWITH CYTOGENETIC CORRELATION

Ploidy analysis of hydropic placentas is used in conjunction with morp hology and clinical data to classify hydatidiform moles and hydropic a bortuses. In most studies, ploidy has been assessed by flow cytometry (FCM). To validate image cytometry (ICM) as a method to determine ploi dy in this setting, the authors used both FCM and ICM to study 19 hydr opic placentas in which cytogenetic analysis was available. Nuclear su spensions from paraffin-embedded tissue were used for both ICM and FCM . Image cytometry of tissue sections was performed in some cases. Imag e cytometry and FCM were concordant in all 19 cases, but discordant wi th cytogenetics in 2 of 19 cases. Two hydropic abortuses (HA) with a d iploid karyotype were triploid and tetraploid, respectively, by both I CM and FCM, which suggested that the cultured tissue was not represent ative. DNA indices were most accurate when an internal diploid control was used as the reference. In ICM, higher resolution was achieved by analyzing cell suspensions rather than tissue sections. This study sho ws that ICM is a valid method of determining ploidy of hydropic placen tas and partial hydatidiform moles in archival tissue.