Ploidy aberrations and agar cloning ability of malignant cells from human bladder carcinoma.

Nine patients with urinary bladder tumours were examined by cystoscopy. Cold cup biopsies were obtained from the tumours and histological sections made. Mapping of the bladder mucosa was performed by selectively aspirating cells from the tumours and from different areas of the bladder. Cellular DNA content was measured by flow cytometry. Additionally, tumour cells were grown in soft agar. Plating efficiency seemed to relate neither to histological grade in the original tumour, to ploidy state, nor to the proliferative fraction of cells in the tumours. Flow cytometry and morphology combined seemed to be more reliable indicators for biological properties of the tumours.