Nuclear DNA measurements on thyroid carcinoma in young patients

Nuclear DNA measurements were performed on thyroid carcinomas from 36 patients aged 20 years or less. Histologic material from the tumors were stained according to the Feulgen technique and measured with slide cytophotometry. Thirty-two of the 36 tumors were of papillary type, 3 were medullary carcinoma and 1 was a follicular carcinoma. Of the 32 papillary carcinomas, 6 tumors (19%) were aneuploid and 26 (81%) were diploid, including 2 cases with lung metastases at diagnosis. Of the 3 medullary carcinomas, 2 were diploid and 1 aneuploid. The only follicular carcinoma was aneuploid. The patients were followed between 10 and 35 years, and 34 were alive at the end of the study. Two patients died, both had medullary carcinomas. One patient, with a diploid tumor, died during surgery. The other patient, with an aneuploid tumor, died 5 years after diagnosis of metastatic disease. Six patients had recurrences, all within 7 years. All the primary tumors and the corresponding recurrences showed a diploid DNA content. The results show that the majority of thyroid carcinomas in young patients exhibit diploid DNA profiles which is in agreement with the overall good prognosis in this patient category. However, since also patients with aneuploid tumors exhibited a similar good prognosis it seems that DNA measurements do not contribute additional prognostic information in young patients.