DNA measurements by image analysis of paraffin-embedded breast carcinoma tissue : a comparative investigation

Measurement of cellular DNA content may provide useful prognostic information in several human neoplasms. The DNA content by image analysis of fresh tissue has been compared with flow cytometry with good correlation, but the use of paraffinembedded tissue for image analysis has not been studied widely. This study reports the DNA content of 54 breast carcinomas and compares the results of image analysis of paraffin-embedded tissue and results of image analysis and flow cytometry of corresponding fresh tumors. Image analysis of paraffin blocks and fresh tumors showed comparable results in 51 tumors (94%), whereas 47 tumors (87%) were similar by all three methods. The DNA indices from image analysis of fresh and paraffin-