Cytophotometric DNA analysis of early esophageal carcinoma.

In four patients with early esophageal carcinoma who underwent radical surgery, one died of cancer recurrence 13 months after surgery, two had an uneventful postoperative course after over five years and one succumbed to an incidental pneumonia 18 months postoperatively. Cytophotometric DNA analysis of the cancer cells reflected well the outcome of these patients. One recurrent patient had malignant pattern similar to that seen in usual advanced carcinoma of the esophagus, whereas the remaining three patient without recurrence throughout the postoperative course showed less malignant patterns. These result suggested the potential usefulness of cytophotometric DNA analysis in assessing the prognosis of early esophageal carcinoma.