Analysis of inferred cytogenetic clonal evolution in a metastatic human ovarian carcinoma

Cytogenetic analyses of solid tumors are hampered both by the difficulties in preparing high-quality banded metaphases and the high degree of karyotypic heterogeneity. Three specimens were obtained from a single patient with serous carcinoma for karyotyping and compared to determine whether the tumor was multifocal or metastatic. All three specimens were hypodiploid, sharing marker chromosomes, thus indicating metastasis. To simplify comparison between the specimens, a diagram of the inferred cytogenetic evolution of the cells analysed was developed. This method afforded a simple means of comparing the different tumor sites in a single patient and might also be applied to sequential samples from patients.