PROSTATE ADENOCARCINOMA - AN IMAGE-ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE FOR DNA PLOIDY DETERMINATION

A new method for ploidy determination of prostate cancers is described. The assay, performed on tissue sections, combines deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ploidy analysis with a determination of the proliferation index. Also described is a ploidy study on tissues derived from a small group (24) of patients with prostate cancer. The study evaluated the prognostic significance of this type of ploidy analysis. The analysis was performed on Feulgen-stained tissue sections derived from paraffin-embedded tissue, and the proliferation index was derived from tissue sections stained with antibody to proliferating cells nuclear antigen. The study reveals that this new ploidy analysis method can be used on small prostate cancer sections. In this study, patients with diploid cancers had a longer survival time than patients with aneuploid tumors.