Flow cytometric analysis of the nuclear DNA content of hepatoblastoma

The nuclear DNA content of 15 hepatoblastoma cases was determined in paraffin-embedded tissues by flow cytometry. The DNA index (DI) was calculated, and the ploidy pattern of nuclear DNA was estimated. The correlation between the ploidy pattern and clinicopathologic findings was studied, and the prognostic significance of the ploidy pattern was investigated. An aneuploid pattern was seen in 50% of the lesions with histologic embryonal and anaplastic types. It was not seen in the fetal type. In the tumors with combined epithelial components, the fetal-type component had a diploid pattern in all five cases. The embryonal-type component was associated with aneuploidy in two of five cases. In aneuploid tumors, vascular invasion (tumor emboli in the vessels) was observed more frequently. The prognosis of the patients with an aneuploid tumor was significantly poorer. These results indicate that nuclear DNA ploidy pattern analysis might be useful in investigating the prognosis of hepatoblastoma.