DNA ploidy and S-phase in recurrent astrocytomas: a retrospective study by flow cytometry of deparaffinized specimens

Twenty-two patients with recurrent astrocytic tumors were treated surgically two or even three times. At the time of the first surgery 6 tumors were fibrillary astrocytomas (grade II), 9 anaplastic astrocytomas (grade III) and 7 glioblastomas (grade IV). Histopathological specimens from second surgery demonstrated in 12 cases signs of higher grades of malignancy. Flow cytometry (FCM) did not reveal any significant changes of S-phase fraction (p = 0.55). This study supports the theory that, given enough time, the histopathology of brain tumors change significantly from more benign forms to more malignant ones. The flow cytometry (FCM) could trace a weak tendency to higher S-phase fractions at the time of the second surgery. No apparent change of ploidy pattern was observed. In spite of the unequivocal histopathological changes of the recurrent astrocytomas the flow cytometry failed to indicate similar changes in terms of ploidy and S-phase fraction parameters.