DNA-PLOIDY AS A PREDICTOR OF CERVICAL METASTASIS IN ADVANCED SQUAMOUSCARCINOMA OF THE TONGUE

Flow cytometric analysis of nuclear DNA content was performed in 34 sq uamous cell carcinomas of oral cavity and base of tongue tumours using archived paraffin-embedded tissues. The DNA content was correlated wi th the presence of cervical metastasis. Ten and 24 patients were class ified as early (I and II) and advanced (III and IV) clinical stages, r espectively The DNA index (DI) was grouped into diploid (DI 0.85 - 1.1 5) and non-diploid. Seven (70%) tumours were non-diploid in clinical s tages I and II. Four out of 7 (57%) developed initial and late cervica l lymph node metastasis (p > 0.05). There were 15 (62.5%) non-diploid tumours in clinical stages III and IV. Thirteen out of 15 (86.7%) had cervical lymph node metastases (p < 0.05). However, the survival perio d and the incidence of recurrent disease for the whole group did not s how any association with DNA ploidy. Our results suggest that DNA cont ent may be useful as a reliable predictor of regional metastasis in ad vanced stage carcinoma of the tongue.