Renal cell carcinoma is unpredictable in outcome, although the best predictor is tumor stage, followed by histologic grade. The authors retrospectively assessed the clinicopathologic features and DNA ploidy of 103 cases of renal cell carcinoma, the latter determined by flow cytometry of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. The study group comprised 63 men and 40 women (age, 28-80 years; mean, 57 years). Robson stage at diagnosis was Stage I in 52 patients, Stage II in 21, and Stage III in 30. Statistically significant variables in predicting outcome were Robson stage (P less than 0.0001), DNA ploidy (P = 0.0008), mitotic rate (MR, P less than 0.0001), worst nuclear grade (WNG, P = 0.00009), predominant nuclear grade (P = 0.019), and sex (P = 0.044). Tumor size, cell type, and architectural pattern were also assessed but did not prove to be significant. Statistically significant associations occurred between DNA ploidy and WNG (P less than 0.0001), stage (P = 0.0037), and MR (P = 0.015); between WNG and MR (P less than 0.0001) and stage (P = 0.0007); and between stage and MR (P = 0.002). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis of all significant variables showed Robson stage, tumor ploidy, and MR to be independent, significant predictors of outcome. If ploidy data had not been available, WNG would have been independently significant. The authors conclude that DNA ploidy analysis provides significant predictive information on renal cell carcinoma.

The relationship between DNA content, clinicopathologic findings, and patient survival in synovial sarcoma was investigated. Patient age at diagnosis (P less than 0.001), tumor size (P less than 0.001), and ploidy status (P less than 0.003) correlated significantly with patient survival. A marginally significant correlation between mitotic count and patient survival was also observed (P = 0.04). Histologic subtypes (monophasic versus biphasic), mitotic count, and S-phase by flow cytometry had no significant influence on the clinical outcome of patients with synovial sarcoma in this study. The authors conclude that DNA ploidy analysis is a significant objective probe in the prognostication of patients with synovial sarcoma.

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We reviewed 53 high-grade carcinomas of the ovary in order to define pathologic features that correlate with prognosis. All tumors were Stage III with comparable amounts of residual tumor left after the primary resection. Similar postoperative chemotherapeutic regimens were given to each patient, and there was a clinical followup of at least four years in each case. The tumors were classified according to their predominant (greater than 50%) histology as transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) (18 tumors), papillary serous (18), undifferentiated (8), or endometrioid (3). There were six mixed carcinomas without predominant histology. In 17 of 18 patients, TCC predominant tumors responded completely to chemotherapy and 15 of 18 patients (83%) are alive without disease 4 to 10 years after presentation (average 6.8 years). In comparison, tumor progression/recurrence developed in 31 of 35 non-TCC tumors (18 serous, eight undifferentiated, one endometrioid predominant, and four mixed carcinomas). Of these 35 patients, 27 (77%) died of disease from 6 months to 7 years after presentation (average 2.5 yrs.). Flow cytometric determination of DNA content and immunoperoxidase studies did not allow discrimination between the histologic types of high-grade ovarian carcinomas. We conclude that TCC should be recognized as a distinct histologic type of ovarian carcinoma because of the favorable response to chemotherapy and improved patient survival.

Predicting the biologic behavior of cystosarcoma phyllodes of the breast by histopathologic examination has been difficult. Flow cytometric DNA and cell cycle analysis was performed for 30 patients with cystosarcoma phyllodes of the breast to determine its potential prognostic utility. Traditional histopathologic parameters and the patients' clinical outcome with a minimum follow-up period of at least five years were also analyzed. Of all the variables examined, DNA ploidy, proliferative index, number of mitoses, and tumor margin were significantly associated with an adverse clinical course. Multivariate regression analysis of the authors' data showed that DNA content was a significant predictor of the patients' clinical outcome. The authors conclude that the DNA ploidy study is a useful, objective adjunct to the clinicopathologic assessment of cystosarcoma phyllodes of the breast.