[Flow cytometric analysis of nuclear DNA content of lung cancer--correlation between nuclear DNA content and tumor doubling time]

A total of 65 resected cases with primary lung cancer were examined on correlation between nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry and other prognostic factors, including tumor doubling time (DT). 1) DNA diploidy was found in 18 cases (28%) and DNA aneuploidy in 47 cases (72%). Percent aneuploidy was 79.5% in cases with adenocarcinoma, which tended to be higher than that in cases with squamous cell carcinoma (57.1%). 2) Percent aneuploidy in cases with advanced carcinomas tended to be higher than that in cases with earlier carcinomas, and percent aneuploidy in cases with rapid growing carcinomas tended to be higher than that in cases with slow growing carcinomas. 3) The geometric mean of DT of DNA aneuploid tumor was 130.0 day, which tended to be shorter than that of DNA diploid tumor (171.9 days), but the difference was not significant. There was not a significant correlation between DT and DNA Index. 4) The five-year survival rate of 47 patients with DNA aneuploid tumor was 45%, which was significantly lower than that of 18 patients with DNA diploid tumor (78%).