Stage C Prostatic Adenocarcinoma: Flow Cytometric Nuclear DNA Ploidy Analysis

Flow cytometric nuclear DNA ploidy analysis was used to study pathologic stage C prostatic adenocarcinoma (pT3, N0, M0) in 146 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy between 1967 and 1981. Of these tumors, 46% had a DNA diploid pattern, 47% had a DNA tetraploid pattern, and 7% had a DNA aneuploid pattern. Abnormal ploidy patterns were associated more frequently with histologic high-grade tumors than with low-grade tumors. Considered alone, DNA ploidy pattern showed a strong association with subsequent prognosis. The median interval to progression for tumors with DNA tetraploid and DNA aneuploid patterns was 7.8 and 3.5 years, respectively. For the DNA diploid tumors, only 23% progressed within 18 years, the longest follow-up. At 10 years, only 10% of patients with DNA diploid tumors had died of prostatic cancer, in comparison with 28% of the DNA tetraploid and 36% of the DNA aneuploid groups (P