Cytogenetic findings in a large bowel adenocarcinoma

Cytogenetic analysis of a biopsy specimen taken during sigmoidoscopy from an adenocarcinoma of the large bowel revealed a hypodiploid karyotype with numerical and structural abnormalities identified as trisomy 7, t(3;12), t(1;17), interstitial deletion of the long arm of a chromosome #5 and loss of the Y chromosome with double X chromosomes. The possibility of this karyotype being a further evolutionary step in a subgroup of large bowel cancers and the clinical value of the above findings are discussed.