Ploidy and survival in resectable pancreatic cancers. A retrospective study over 9 years
Schlichting, E.; Clausen, O.P.; Hanssen, A.S.; Buanes, T.A.
European Journal of Surgery 159(4): 229-233
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 1102-4151 PMID: 8102544 Document Number: 412085
Objective: To evaluate the association between ploidy and operability and prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Ullevaal Hospital and the National Hospital of Norway, Oslo. Subjects: 148 patients with histologically verified pancreatic cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1988. Interventions: 29 patients had radical resections (18 Whipple procedures and 11 total pancreatectomies). Archival tissue was investigated in the blocks from these tumors, and from five patients who had only a biopsy taken, by DNA flow cytometry. Results: 26/29 tumors excised radically had diploid DNA stemlines. Two of the three aneuploid stemlines were hyperdiploid, and the third was almost triploid. Among the five inoperable tumors, two were aneuploid and three diploid. The patients who underwent radical operations lived a median of 11.5 months (range 0-82), compared with a median of 4 months (range 0-58) for those whose tumors were inoperable. Six of the 29 patients were still alive without signs of recurrent disease 51.5 months (range 41-82) after operation. All but one of these tumors had diploid DNA stemlines, and synthesis (S) phase fractions below the median value for the whole group. Conclusion: DNA ploidy and S phase fraction are prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer.