J. Hemmer et al., REPRESENTATIVITY OF INCISIONAL BIOPSIES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF FLOW CYTOMETRIC DNA CONTENT IN HEAD AND NECK SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA, Pathology research and practice, 194(2), 1998, pp. 105-109
DNA flow cytometry studies of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and
neck have shown that patients with diploid tumours have favourable pro
gnoses, whereas the outcomes of those with DNA aneuploid tumours are p
oor. DNA flow cytometry is therefore increasingly used as an integral
part of diagnostic procedures. To evaluate how representative biopsies
predict the DNA ploidy of oral carcinomas, incisional biopsies taken
pretherapeutically from 256 tumours were compared with the correspondi
ng surgical resection specimens. Sixty-six rumours exclusively display
ed cells with flow cytometrically diploid DNA content in both the biop
sy and the subsequent resection specimen, while 182 carcinomas express
ed DNA aneuploid tumour cell lines in matched samples. There were only
8 rumours (3.1%) with heterogeneity in the DNA ploidy status between
the biopsy and the resection specimen. These results emphasise the use
fulness of incisional biopsies to reliably prognosticate the DNA ploid
y status of oral carcinomas.