Quantitative nuclear DNA content in fine needle aspirates of pancreatic cancer.
Department of Pathology, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
The quantitative nuclear DNA content of nuclei from fine needle aspirations from 70 patients with pancreatic cancer was measured using an image analyser system. Retrospective analysis of patients indicated that cases with tumour stemlines in the diploid region had the best chance for radical surgery (p less than 0.006) and the best probability of survival (p less than 0.0004). The prognosis for patients with tetraploid stemlines was intermediate and was poorest for patients with no stemlines in the diploid-tetraploid region. From those parameters assessed postoperatively, only the tumour stage added appreciable information on prognosis to the preoperative quantitative DNA content obtainable. Therefore, in patients with pancreatic cancer the quantitative DNA content should be taken into account in planning treatment and assessing prognosis. Furthermore, the quantitative DNA content may have a major role in stratification for further treatment trials.
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
