Histological grade, DNA ploidy and mean nuclear volume as prognostic factors in prostatic cancer

Seventy-nine consecutive patients with prostatic cancer diagnosed between 1979 and 1983 were classified with respect to histological grade according to Shelley et al. (23), DNA ploidy (diploid, tetraploid and aneuploid), and mean nuclear volume (mnv) of the cancer cells. Nine patients were still alive at the time of analysis (minimum observation time 7.5 years). Univariate analysis showed that histological grade (p = 0.004), DNA ploidy (p = 0.0002) and mnv (p = 0.009) all had a significant influence on crude survival. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyse the prognostic value of these factors and patient age. However, when the two strongest of these four factors, histological grade (p = 0.0025) and DNA ploidy (p = 0.0035), were corrected for, age (p = 0.07) and mnv (p = 0.22) had no independent impact on crude survival.