[Relationship between the nuclear DNA content and the prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung]

Analysis of the nuclear DNA content from paraffin-embedded specimens using flow cytometry was performed on 86 patients in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. There were no relationships between the site of tumor origin and the nuclear DNA content or the survival of the patients. The frequency of DNA aneuploidy was 74.4% among tumors, and it significantly (p less than 0.05) increased with advanced stage. The patients with DNA aneuploidy were significantly (p less than 0.01) less favorable prognosed than those with DNA diploidy. Similar results were demonstrated in patients of absolute or relative curative resections. These results indicate that DNA aneuploidy is of higher grade malignant intensity than DNA diploidy in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. In patients with absolute or relative curative resection, DNA aneuploid tumors occurred much more often in distant metastasis. In conclusion, there were no relationships between the site of tumor origin and the biological features or the prognosis of patients in squamous carcinoma of the lung. DNA ploidy pattern is related to relapse and prognosis of the tumors. If the DNA ploidy pattern of patients on whom absolute curative resection was performed is DNA aneuploidy, adjuvant therapy should be strongly performed and carefully followed up as long as possible.