[Nuclear DNA content in breast cancer in relation to postoperative recurrence]

Nuclear DNA content in breast cancer patients who underwent extended radical mastectomy was investigated to evaluate its possible relation to postoperative recurrence. The most frequent site of the first recurrence in diploid type (D type) cases was the bone and the frequency was significantly higher than that in non-diploid type (N type) cases. On the other hand, the ploidy pattern in all cases associated with local or local lymph node recurrence was N type and the lung was the next frequent site of recurrence in N type case. The frequency of over 4c cells was the highest in the cases of local or local lymph node recurrence being significantly higher than in all cases of distant recurrence or of the bone recurrence. The cumulative disease-free survival rate in patients with D type breast cancer was significantly higher than that in patients with N type. These results suggest that nuclear DNA content provides important information for deciding therapy and the schedule of postoperative follow-up study based on the mode of recurrence.