We subjected 322 tissue samples of 69 patients with prostatic cancer treated by radical prostatectomy to flow-cytometry DNA analysis. From 1 to 8 tissue samples were analysed for all patients: results showed diploidy in 272 cases and aneuploidy in 50 cases. 45 tumours were classified as diploid, and 24 aneuploid. Aneuploid tumours had one or more aneuploid samples, but in no one case were all specimens of the same neoplasm aneuploid. Aneuploidy status could also change in the same tumour. In conclusion, the study shows that prostatic cancer is often heterogeneous with regard to DNA content and that just one specimen cannot be considered representative of the tumour.
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