Feulgen cytometry in simultaneous endometrial and ovarian carcinoma

The modal DNA value was measured in six patients with simultaneous endometrial and ovarian carcinoma by Feulgen static cytometry. One patient with low-grade endometrial and ovarian carcinoma manifested diploid indices at both sites. Another patient demonstrated aneuploid ovarian carcinoma and diploid endometrial carcinoma, indicating that these were separate neoplasms. The remaining four patients with Stage III disease had aneuploid endometrial and ovarian carcinomas with identical DNA indices. These data support a single neoplastic process with metastasis in the latter four patients. There was good correlation with the clinicopathologic impression on the likelihood of synchronous primaries versus metastatic neoplasms. It was concluded that DNA analysis is a useful adjunct in assessing the probability that spatially separate neoplasms represent metastasis.