Deoxyribonucleic acid flow cytometry on primary adenocarcinoma of the bladder: an analysis of 36 cases.

Deoxyribonucleic acid flow cytometry was applied retrospectively to 36 primary pure adenocarcinomas of the bladder, stages A through D. Six tumors were enteric, 3 mucinous, 11 signet ring, 3 papillary, 5 unspecified and 8 mixed. Eight tumors were urachal in origin and 28 were nonurachal. The deoxyribonucleic acid pattern was diploid in 12 cases, aneuploid in 19, tetraploid in 3 and uncertain in 2. Nineteen patients died of disease after a mean of 27.4 months, 7 were well at a mean of 73.9 months, 8 had died of an unrelated cause and 1 was alive with metastatic disease. Ploidy pattern did not correlate with tumor stage, histological pattern or type of outcome: 6 of 12 patients with diploid and 12 of 22 with nondiploid tumors died of disease. However, if the tumor was urachal 1 of 4 patients with a diploid pattern died of disease, while 3 of 4 with an aneuploid pattern either died or were alive with disease. Our data suggest that deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy pattern apparently is not a significant predictor of outcome for primary adenocarcinoma of the bladder except possibly when the origin is urachal.