Prognostic impact of nuclear DNA content in medullary thyroid carcinoma; a retrospective pilot study

The prognostic significance of DNA content in medullary thyroid carcinoma was studied retrospectively in 16 patients. Five patients died within 3 years of medullary thyroid carcinoma and 11 patients survived for at least 10 years. Clinical data and tumour morphology were studied. DNA measurements on tumour cells in histologic sections were performed with slide cytophotometric technique. The tumours of the survivors had in all but two cases a DNA content comparable to that of normal cells, whereas the tumours of the non-survivors and two of the survivors had higher DNA content. The results indicate that DNA measurements in medullary thyroid carcinoma might be of use in addition to clinical and morphologic data and that further studies are warranted.