Flow microfluorometry and transrectal fine-needle biopsy in the classification of human prostatic carcinoma

Flow microfluorometry (FMF) and transrectal fine-needle biopsy were used for obtaining DNA histograms from 50 patients suffering from various prostatic lesions. Based on the cytomorphological pattern, the material was classified as benign prostatic hyperplasia (29 cases), suspected carcinoma (1 case), well-differentiated carcinoma (6 cases), moderately differentiated carcinoma (12 cases) and poorly differentiated carcinoma (2 cases). The biopsy material was prepared for FMF analysis according to a new detergent technique. It was observed that increasing anaplasia paralleled an increasing occurrence of cell populations in the tetraploid and octoploid DNA region. According to the DNA histograms the moderately differentiated carcinomas could be divided into two groups: one with no or a few tetraploid cells (similar to the well-differentiated carcinomas), and another with a high percentage of tetraploid and octoploid cells (similar to the poorly differentiated carcinomas). FMF analysis in combination with fine-needle biopsy is therefore proposed as a valuable addition to the cytomorphological classification of human prostatic carcinoma.