Flow cytometric DNA analysis of renal-cell carcinoma. A study of fine needle aspiration biopsies in comparison with multiple surgical samples.

The flow cytometric (FCM) DNA analysis of fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy material was compared with the DNA analysis of multiple surgical biopsy material from 44 renal-cell carcinomas. Twenty tumors were heterogeneous with respect to their DNA content. Eleven of the 17 tumors that had both diploid and aneuploid tumor cell clones in the surgical specimens gave a diploid DNA content in the aspiration biopsies; the other 6 cases showed aneuploidy in the aspirate. The fine needle aspirates from 18 homogeneously diploid tumors and 9 tumors with an aneuploid DNA content in all eight surgical samples revealed DNA indices similar to those found in the surgical samples. These findings show that aneuploid clones of renal-cell carcinoma can remain undetected by the use of FNA biopsy as a method for obtaining samples for FCM DNA analysis.