Prognostic significance of cellular DNA ploidy level of the breast cancer]

This paper reports that cellular DNA ploidy level of paraffin-embedded histological material from 47 patients with stage II breast cancer was measured by flow cytometry. Meanwhile, the influence of cellular DNA level on disease-free survival (DFS) of postoperative patients for the breast cancer was analyzed. The results showed eighteen (38.3%) of tumors examined were DNA diploid, and the remainder were DNA aneuploid. Patients with diploid cancer had a significantly better disease-free survival compared with the patients with aneuploid cancer (P less than 0.02). Our results suggested that cellular DNA ploidy level is a good prognostic factor and of important significance in predicting prognosis of patients with the breast cancer.