[Heterochromatin polymorphism of A1 chromosome in patients with ovarian carcinoma (author's transl)].

Studies conducted by Atkin and Pickthall are likely to suggest more frequent occurrence in normal cells of enlargement of the heterochromatin region of the A1 chromosome in patients with ovarian carcinoma, and its is also claimed to be a predisposing factor, in the context of ovarian carcinoma. - The authors of the paper have tried to find out, if they could draw similar conclusions from their own patients and, therefore, applied cytogenetic tests of lymphocytes to 50 patients, including 25 who had undergone treatment for ovarian carcinoma and 25 control probands. - An assessment was made of 298 mitoses. C-bands were accurately measured and calculated in 84 mitoses of both groups. --The dimensions of A1 heterochromatin were variable in the authors' preparations, too. However, such variability in size in either group is considered still as normal variant of the well-known A1 polymorphism, and the authors were not convinced that pathognomonic relevance should be attributed to those findings. - Enlarged C-band of A chromosome was recordable only from one lymphocyte culture of one patient with ovarian carcinoma. C-banding, consequently, cannot be considered a suitable screening method for ovarian carcinoma, in the context of lymphocyte culturing.