Abstract

Fifty cases of hepatocellularcarcinoma were studied using retrospective flow cytometric(FCM) and image cytometric(ICM) DNA analysis to determine the prevalence of aneuploid cell population and whether they were associated with any particular clinico-pathologic findings. At the same time, we compared the difference between FCM and ICM. The materials were prepared from 50 micrometer cut of paraffin embedded blocks. The DNA modal values, which could be defined in 42 cases by FCM with 74% aneuploidy and in 50 cases by ICM with 76% aneuploidy. So 95% of the cases had concordant DNA ploidy results by both techniques of FCM and ICM. Abnormal DNA pattern was correlated with age(<50), presence of cirrhosis, pathologic grade and some pathologic types(p<0.05), but was not correlated with presence of HBsAg, sex, alphafeto protein, and alcohol history(p>0.05). Also we found that ICM technique was easier to perform and interprete.

• Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma;DNA anaysis;Flow cytometry;Image cytometry