[Feasibility of DNA impulse cytophotometry (ICP) in the diagnosis of squamous cell cancers of the oral cavity and oropharynx].

DNA ploidy and the proportion of DNA-synthesized cells (number of S-phase fractions) were measured by DNA impulse cytophotometry in 39 patients with untreated carcinomas of the oral cavity and the oropharynx. 84.7% of the tumours of the oral cavity and 80.8% of the tumours of the oropharynx were DNA-aneuploid. The mean value of S-phase fractions of the carcinomas of the oral cavity was 9.18 +/- 4.82%, that of the oropharynx carcinomas was 9.16 +/- 5.85%. There was no correlation between the type of DNA ploidy or the number of S-phase fractions and the presence of regional metastases and the clinical outcome of the tumour diseases. A case report suggests that determination of the number of S-phase fractions may give important information on the prognosticable effect of cytostatic therapy. So pretherapeutic ICP determination might become helpful with regard to the indications for cytostatic therapy of oro-pharyngeal tumours.