Intraoperative Flow Cytometry for the Characterization of Gynecological Malignancies

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Aneuploidy and high proliferative potential are distinct features of neoplastic cells. Based on the established role of intraoperative flow cytometry in various types of cancer, the aim of the present study was to investigate its role in cancer cell identification during surgery for gynecological malignancies. The analysis time was 5–6 min per sample. A large percentage of tumors were characterized as aneuploid, while all tumor samples had a significantly high proliferation. Flow cytometry was performed in accordance with pathological evaluation, and the method had high sensitivity and specificity. Our results verify the value of intraoperative flow cytometry in gynecological malignancies, and warrant further investigation in multicenter studies. ABSTRACT: Cell-cycle analysis has shown the presence of aneuploidy to be associated with poor prognosis. We developed an innovative rapid cell-cycle analysis protocol (the Ioannina protocol) that permitted the intraoperative identification of neoplastic cells in a plethora of malignancies. Herein, we aimed to investigate the potential role of cell-cycle analysis in the intraoperative characterization of gynecological malignancies. Women who underwent surgery for gynecological malignancies in our institution over a three-year period were included in this study. Permanent section pathology evaluation was used as the gold standard for malignancy evaluation. Total accordance was observed between flow cytometry and pathology evaluation. In total, 21 aneuploid cancers were detected following DNA index calculation. Of these, 20 were hyperploid and 1 was hypoploid. In addition, tumor samples were characterized by a significantly lower percentage of cells in G0/G1, as well as an induced tumor index. The response time for flow cytometry to obtain results was 5–6 min per sample. It seems that flow cytometry analyses for intraoperative tumor evaluation can be safely expanded to gynecological malignancies. This is a novel practical approach that has been proven valuable in several tumor types to date, and also seems to be reliable for gynecological malignancies. Intraoperative flow cytometry is expected to be crucial in decisions of lymph node dissection in endometrial cancers, due to its rapid response regarding the tumor invasion of part or all of the myometrial thickness. In this way, the surgeon can quickly modify the plane of dissection. Our results warrant the further investigation of applying iFC in larger, multicenter studies.