[Flow cytometry: diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic usefulness in solid tumors]

Flow cytometry is a new technique measuring several optical parameters of particular cells in cell suspension. These parameters are: optical density, light scatter and fluorescence emission. Optical assay conjugated with digital data processing permit the precise characterisation of chosen cellular subpopulations. The optical signs transformed by photomultipliers as analogue signals are presented as descriptive cytograms. Digitally converted signals analysed by multichannel analyser are stored as histigrams. Flow cytometry is widely used in the diagnostics of blood neoplastic diseases and, in a less routine manner, in the diagnostics of solid tumours. The latter requires accurate disaggregation of tumour tissue to obtain homogenous cell suspension. Different, more or less efficient, mechanical or enzymatic disaggregation techniques are used to prepare appropriate cell suspensions. Flow cytometry DNA analysis with simultaneous determination of several protein proliferation factors are heavily used in research and clinical laboratories to follow tumour cell proliferation, efficacy of cancer therapy and finally as prognostic factors. Although these assays yield promising results in some specific tumours, their value and accuracy seems still equivocal.