[Malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma evaluated with nuclear DNA ploidy pattern]

Nucleus DNA ploidy analysis was performed by flow cytometry on 81 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. DNA ploidy patterns were divided into two groups; diploid pattern and aneuploid pattern, which were estimated by the rate of the first peak channel on histograms. DNA aneuploidy significantly correlated with serum AFP level (p < 0.01), TNM stage (p < 0.01), and pathological findings: vp (p < 0.5), im (p < 0.01). The aneuploid cases showed better prognosis than the diploid cases (Generalized-Wilcoxon test, p < 0.01). In the diploid cases, recurrent tumors manifested almost solitary isolated. The disease free period after hepatectomy was longer in diploid cases (mean 24.2 months) than in aneuploid cases (mean 14.4 months). There was a higher frequency of aneuploid cases of recurrence within 2 years compared to diploid cases. Two and half year survival rates after recurrence of diploid cases (69.6%) was significantly better than those of aneuploid cases (38.2%) (p < 0.05). The DNA ploidy pattern of hepatocellular carcinoma plays an important role in predicting the malignant potentials of the disease.