Correlation between cytopathologic findings and relative DNA content of cancer cells in uterine endometrial cancer

Abstract

Relative DNA content of tumor cells determined by flowcytometric analysis (DNA ploidy) has been reported as a prognostic factor of solid cancer. However, it is still unknown correlation between morphologic characteristics and DNA ploidy. We have evaluated the cytopathologic findings including area of nucleus, area of nucleolus, number of nucleolus, nuclear/ cytoplasm ratio, and DNA ploidy in 76 patients with uterine endometrial carcinomas. DNA aneuploid was detected in 18 patients (24%), and DNA aneuploid cases exhibited significantly larger nuclear area and area of nucleolus than that of the DNA diploid cases. However, no correlation was seen in nuclear/cytoplasm ratio, and number of nucleolus. Our findings suggest that relative DNA content would be influenced to area of the nucleus and area of the nucleolus.