CYTOGENETICS OF WILMS-TUMOR

Wilms' tumor (WT) is the most common abdominal cancer of children. We obtained tumor specimens from 11 patients with WT. Cytogenetic analysi s was successful in eight patients. Four showed consistent abnormaliti es, two had consistent deletions, and the other two had hyperdiploid c hromosome numbers with structural aberrations as well. We report the c linical status, histology, and cytogenetics of these eight patients. I n addition, we have reviewed the literature on chromosome abnormalitie s in patients with WT in an attempt to correlate specific abnormalitie s with disease stage, histology, and clinical outcome. This review inc ludes data from 170 tumors, including tumors from our eight patients. Hyperdiploidy was the most common abnormality, occurring in all stages except stage V. However, only five stage V tumors have been reported. A normal karyotype was found in only 17% of the tumors, but these may be underreported in the literature. Pseudodiploidy occurred in 28% of WTs, and all showed favorable histology. Correlation of chromosome ab normalities with clinical outcome was difficult because of the relativ ely few cases (35%) for which this information was provided in the lit erature.