[DNA ploidy and prognosis of cardia and stomach carcinomas. A comparative flow and image cytometric analysis pf paraffin-embedded tumor sections].

The prognostic relevance of DNA stem line ploidy was ascertained by comparative DNA analysis performed by flow cytometry (FCM) and by Feulgen image cytometry (ICM) of histologic slides on paraffin-embedded resection material from 221 carcinomas of the cardia and stomach. While flow cytometric detection of DNA stem line aneuploidy was rather insecure in smaller or diffuse carcinomas, the methodological restrictions of ICM were seen in a reduced measuring accuracy varying from one case to the other. This resulted in a lower security in distinguishing mere peridiploidy from real hyperdiploid DNA aneuploidy. Despite the difference of methodology, the results were principally concurring. The assessment of DNA stem line ploidy offered no appreciable information about the prognosis of Lauren's diffuse carcinomas. For intestinal carcinomas, however, there was a significant positive correlation between DNA stem line aneuploidy and the evidence of regional nodal metastases, which might explain to a considerable extent the significantly unfavorable clinical course of tumor cases with recorded DNA aneuploidy. The correlation between DNA stem line ploidy, nodal status, and clinical outcome was distinctly less strong in intestinal carcinomas of the cardia than in those of the stomach, because nodal metastatic spread of cardia carcinomas is strongly influenced by local conditions of lymph drainage and the special mechanical strain.