Flow cytometric dna analysis of parathyroid tumors with special reference to its diagnostic and prognostic value in parathyroid carcinoma

Abstract

The nuclear DNA content of paraffin‐embedded parathyroid tumors from 49 patients with proven primary hyperparathyroidism was determined by flow cytometric analysis. The lesions included 14 primary and 11 locally recurrent or metastatic lesions from 16 carcinoma patients, 28 single adenomas from 28 patients, and 15 hyperplastic glands from five patients with familial multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. No abnormal DNA stemline was found in any of the hyperplastic glands. One (3.6%) of the adenomas was aneuploid. There was no difference in ploidy patterns between the primary and recurrent lesions of the carcinomas and five (31%) of the carcinomas expressed aneuploidy. Four of the five patients with aneuploid carcinoma had recurrences including pulmonary metastases. One of them died of this disease 12 years after the initial operation, and all except one of the others are hypercalcemic even after removal of the successive recurrent or metastatic tumors. Of the 11 patients with diploid carcinoma, four had either local recurrence or pulmonary metastasis. Two of them are living with normocalcemia 3 and 6 years, respectively, after removal of the recurrent tumors and the others are alive with mild hypercalcemia. The remaining seven patients with diploid carcinoma, however, have no recurrence 2 to 5 years after the initial operation. Thus aneuploid parathyroid carcinomas are likely to show more malignant behavior than those with a diploid DNA pattern. All of the patients with adenoma and hyperplasia have been normocalcemic after a mean follow‐up‐interval of 37 months. This study indicates that flow cytometric analysis of nuclear DNA content is a valuable adjunct to histologic examination in the diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma and the prediction of the clinical outcome. Copyright © 1990 American Cancer Society