Nuclear Deoxyribonucleic Acid Ploidy and Serum Prostate Specific Antigen in Operable Prostatic Adenocarcinoma

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Abstract
A total of 71 patients with prostate carcinoma who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy had preoperative measurement of serum prostate specific antigen levels and subsequent nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy analysis of the resected tumors. Prostate specific antigen levels were determined by a commercially available prostate specific antigen radioimmunometric assay (normal range 0 to 4.0 ng./ml.). The paraffin-embedded blocks of the prostate specimens were analyzed by flow cytometry for nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid content using Hedley’s technique and propidium iodide staining. A strong association was found between nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy patterns and preoperative prostate specific antigen values. All patients with tetraploid and aneuploid tumors had elevated preoperative prostate specific antigen values. By contrast, all patients with preoperative antigen values of less than 4 ng./ml. had diploid tumors (p J. Urol, 144: 303-306, 1990)