Stage C prostatic adenocarcinoma: flow cytometric nuclear DNA ploidy analysis

Flow cytometric nuclear DNA ploidy analysis was used to study pathologic stage C prostatic adenocarcinoma (pT3, N0, M0) in 146 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy between 1967 and 1981. Of these tumors, 46% had a DNA diploid pattern, 47% had a DNA tetraploid pattern, and 7% had a DNA aneuploid pattern. Abnormal ploidy patterns were associated more frequently with histologic high-grade tumors than with low-grade tumors. Considered alone, DNA ploidy pattern showed a strong association with subsequent prognosis. The median interval to progression for tumors with DNA tetraploid and DNA aneuploid patterns was 7.8 and 3.5 years, respectively. For the DNA diploid tumors, only 23% progressed within 18 years, the longest follow-up. At 10 years, only 10% of patients with DNA diploid tumors had died of prostatic cancer, in comparison with 28% of the DNA tetraploid and 36% of the DNA aneuploid groups (P less than 0.01). By analysis of a combination of histologic tumor grade and nuclear DNA ploidy pattern, an even stronger association with prognosis was demonstrated. For the 38 patients with histologic low-grade and DNA diploid tumors, progression-free survival was 92% at 10 years, in comparison with 57% for 23 patients with low-grade DNA nondiploid tumors. Patients with high-grade tumor had a poorer prognosis whether the DNA ploidy pattern was diploid or nondiploid. Nuclear DNA ploidy pattern is an important and independent prognostic variable for patients with pathologic stage C prostatic cancer treated by radical prostatectomy.