DNA cytometry of musculoskeletal tumors. A review.

In conclusion, all the benign soft tissue tumors analyzed so far have been been diploid, whereas the malignant entities include both diploid or aneuploid variants. Further, there is a relationship between ploidy level and histologic malignancy grade. The main value of DNA analysis seems to be that it provides objective support for histologic diagnosis as to benignity and malignancy grade. Occasionally, a discrepancy between ploidy and grade is encountered. Apart from the fact that aneuploidy precludes benignity, it may prove that ploidy level in malignancy is a better predictor of clinical course than histologic grade. However, this can only be established by analyzing each malignant entity separately, because the validity of DNA cytometry probably varies with histogenetic tumor type.