Fine needle aspiration of prostatic rhabdomyosarcoma. A case report demonstrating the value of DNA ploidy.
A case of primary rhabdomyosarcoma of the prostate diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy and confirmed with immunocytochemistry is described. Evaluation of DNA content of tumor cell nuclei by image analysis was performed to complement the diagnosis and clinical stage information and to further predict the tumor response to chemotherapy. Diploid tumors should prompt clinicians to use a more aggressive chemotherapeutic protocol to achieve as favorable a response to therapy as that seen in aneuploid tumors. The DNA content obtained with differently fixed and stained specimens yielded similar results, further confirming the wide applicability of image analysis as a diagnostic/prognostic tool in prospective and retrospective studies in pathology.