Objective: Our goal was to study the prognostic value of deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy and S-phase fraction in advanced ovarian carcinoma.
Study design: Prognostic factors for corrected survival were evaluated in a prospective study including 169 patients with stage III and IV ovarian cancer treated between 1985 and 1990.
Results: A total of 79% of the tumors were deoxyribonucleic acid aneuploid. Deoxyribonucleic acid aneuploidy was associated with grade of differentiation. S-phase fraction could be calculated in all deoxyribonucleic acid euploid tumors and 76% of the deoxyribonucleic acid aneuploid tumors. By multivariate analysis deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy, histologic type and grade, age, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, and amount of residual tumor were independent prognostic variables for corrected survival. On the basis of Cox regression a relative risk for the individual patient could be calculated.
Conclusion: Deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy gives additive prognostic information and is a useful parameter for dividing patients with advanced ovarian cancer into risk groups for treatment decisions.