Image cytometry DNA analysis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

The Feulgen-DNA content of squamous carcinoma cell nuclei from the human esophagus was assessed in punch biopsies from 47 untreated patients. Forty-four of the 47 biopsies (93.6%) demonstrated aneuploid cell populations, and the remaining 3 (6.4%) were non-diploid. Previous studies have demonstrated that in esophageal dysplasias adjacent to invasive squamous cell carcinoma, DNA in single cells is substantially altered. Thus the process of esophageal carcinogenesis can be monitored not only by histological changes, but also by DNA aberrations in single cells. Quantitative DNA measurement appears, therefore, to be a complement to the histological evaluation of esophageal lesions with suspected, but not unequivocal, evidence of neoplastic growth.