PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF FLOW CYTOMETRIC DNA ANALYSIS IN HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF 124 PATIENTS

The prognostic significance of the nuclear DNA content of tumors was s tudied prospectively in 124 patients who underwent hepatic resection f or the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The DNA content wa s measured by means of flow cytometry (FCM) using fresh or frozen samp les. The DNA index (DI) was calculated, and the nuclear DNA content wa s classified into two types, DNA diploid and DNA aneuploid. The incide nce of DNA aneuploid was 55.6%, and the DI ranged from 1.00 to 3.66, w ith most values falling between 1.00 and 2.00. There was a significant difference in overall survival between patients with DNA diploid and DNA aneuploid tumors (P < 0.05), with 3-year survival rates being 94.4 % and 51.9%, respectively. Among the DNA aneuploid tumor-bearing patie nts, 55 patients with a high DI (> 1.5) had a worse prognosis than 14 patients with a low DI (less-than-or-equal-to 1.5). Of the 98 patients who underwent curative operations, the 43 DNA diploid tumor-bearing p atients had more favorable disease-free survival than the 55 DNA aneup loid tumor-bearing patients (P < 0.05, the 3-year disease-free surviva l rate: 48.4% vs. 0.0%). These results indicate that nuclear DNA conte nt as measured by FCM has prognostic significance for post-operative H CC patients.