Flow cytometric DNA analysis was performed on 34 samples of prostatic carcinoma patients with stage D2 disease to study the relationship between DNA ploidy pattern, Gleason sum score, and prognosis. Nuclei were extracted from paraffin-embedded needle biopsy specimens. The DNA ploidy pattern was diploid in 53% of the tumors, tetraploid in 38%, and aneuploid in 9%. A significant correlation between DNA ploidy pattern, Gleason sum score, and prognosis was not proved. It was considered that DNA ploidy pattern and Gleason sum score of limited primary lesion did not allow a prognosis of the patients with stage D2 prostatic carcinoma to be made.