[DNA ploidy pattern of gastric carcinomas and its relations with histological type and invasion pattern]

The DNA ploidy pattern was determined by cytofluorometry in 90 cases of surgically resected gastric carcinomas, which were histologically divided into 40 cases of differentiated type and 50 of undifferentiated type. The gastric cancers were classified into two basic ploidy patterns, diploid and aneuploid. Relations among ploidy patterns, histological types and invasion patterns were studied. Diploid patterns were found in 23 cases (58%) of differentiated type and in 37 (74%) of undifferentiated type. In undifferentiated types, aneuploid patterns appeared in 2 (10%) of 19 early cancers, whose rate was significantly lower than that of advanced cancers. 11 (38%) of 29. In differentiated types, however, aneuploids were seen in 10 (48%) of 21 early cancers, not lower than 7 (37%) of 19 advanced ones. Furthermore, in undifferentiated types, aneuploids marked 11 (52%) out of 21 highly invasive carcinomas, while no aneuploids appeared in slightly invasive ones. In differentiated types, aneuploids were found in 3 (38%) out of 8 intramucosal carcinomas and 9 (53%) out of 17 slightly invasive ones. These results suggested that in undifferentiated gastric carcinomas, aneuploid is closely correlated with tumor progression and invasion degree, whereas in differentiated carcinomas such a correlation is not clearly seen.