Predictive value of flow cytometric analysis in DNA contents in patients with locally advanced head and neck carcinoma

A restrospective study was performed on 61 eligible patients with stage III and IV (AJC/UICC Staging System) squamous carcinomas of the head and neck region who were treated with definitive radiotherapy with, or without, surgery. DNA contents were measured by flow cytometric analysis of archival paraffin blocks and were correlated with clinicopathological findings, tumour response and patient survival. Comparison of variables including treatment modality was performed for identification of significant prognostic factors. There were 28 diploid, 27 aneuploid tumours and the remaining six were questionable. All patients were followed-up for at least two years or until death. Aneuploid tumours had a significantly higher S-phase fraction (percentage S-phase) (p<0.001). Neither ploidy nor percentage S-phase were found to have predictive value in tumour response or patient survival within the power of a sample size of 61. Twenty of the 27 (74 per cent) aneuploid tumours had a complete response (CR) whereas 19 out of 28 (68 per cent) diploid tumours achieved CR. Five-year survival by the Kaplan-Meier method was 33 per cent for both aneuploid and diploid tumours. However, nodal stage (N stage) was found to have significant predictive value in both tumour response and patient survival. The complete response for stage N-3 patients was 96 per cent, N-1 patients 61 per cent, N-2 patients 60 per cent and 43 per cent for N-3 patients (p<0.002). Similarly, the five year survival for the N-0 and N-3 groups of patients was 53 per cent and 29 per cent respectively (p<0.05).