| Abstract
| - Fresh surgical specimens of tumors from 60 patients with previously untreated non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) who underwent radical surgery between January 1991 and October 1992 were investigated by means offlow-cytometry. The nuclear DNA measurement was carried out using a Facscan(Becton, Dickinson, USA). Analysis of the DNA content was performed in all60 patients whilst cell cycle analysis was possible in 41 cases (68.3%).Forty-two of the 60 cases (70%) were aneuploid and 18 (30%) were diploid.The overall mean value of DNA index was 1.5. Diploid NSCLC were comparedwith aneuploid tumors: no significant differences in age distribution, sexratio, histology and staging were found between the two groups (P ≫0.05). An S-phase proportion of more than 10% was found in 30 out of 41patients (73.2%). Early cancer deaths were reported in four patients(6.6%): the aneuploidy rate was very close in these patients (75%) and inthe remaining surviving patients (69.6%). An S-phase proportion of morethan 10% was found in 100% of early cancer deaths and in 70.2% of theremaining cases; such a difference seems of some importance although it wasnot statistically significant (P = 0.071). In conclusion, flow- cytometrystudies seem to be a useful tool in the understanding of the biologicalbehavior of patients with NSCLC. In the present prospective report therewere no significant correlations between DNA measurements and clinicaloutcome, however, these results suggest that a high S- phase proportionshould be seen as a possible prognostic indicator.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT250 WORDS)
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