Prognostic relevance of DNA content in childhood renal tumours

The DNA content of paraffin embedded tumour specimens from 100 children with kidney tumours was studied by flow cytometry. Data of adequate quality were obtained from 93 cases comprising 67 Wilms' tumours with a favourable histology (FH), 12 Wilms' tumours with unfavourable histology (UH) (pleomorphic), 8 bone-metastasising renal tumours of childhood (BMRTC) and 6 rhabdoid renal tumours. Only 4.5% FH compared with 75% UH Wilms' were aneuploid (P less than 0.001). Although BMRTC and rhabdoid tumours are associated with poor prognosis, there were no examples of aneuploidy in these tumours. The proliferation index was found to be of no prognostic value. Staging and ploidy were not correlated with each other in any of the various histological types of renal tumours studied.