The Role of Flow Cytometric Dna Analysis in Renal Tumours

Abstract

The results obtained with flow cytometric (FCM) DNA analysis in renal tumours are variable, since not all investigators have demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between presence of aneuploid cell populations and patient survival. The most important reason is probably the different number of samples analysed for each tumour. Therefore most investigators agree that it is essential to perform flow cytometry analysis on a large number of tumour tissue samples. In our study we decided to do the FCM DNA analysis on multiple tissue samples and on needle aspiration samples drawn from the surgically removed tumour mass. Our data showed 44% aneuploid tumours in tissue samples and 58% aneuploidies in needle aspirates. We think that FCM DNA analysis on fine needle aspirates can detect an aneuploid population at least as frequently as on tissue samples. Therefore this technique could substitute multiple tumour tissue sampling. At present FCM in renal tumours seems to be a parameter for the identification of patients at high risk for progression, who should receive adjuvant therapy or treatment for recurrency. What is more, pre-operative FCM on needle aspirates could provide an important additional parameter in the choice of conservative-type surgical treatment, since the only criterion currently available is the size of the tumour.