Objective To evaluate the prognostic and pathobiologic significance of DNA content. Methods DNA content was conducted on 140 hepatocellular carcinoma patients by flow cytometry. Cancer recurrence was followed up after the patients were discharged. The statistical software used was SPSS. Results DNA ploidy did not correlate with clinicobiologic features, except with the age of the patients (Ｐ＜0.05), tumor size and AFP level (Ｐ＜0.01). The mean following up time of the patients with diploid was 31.2 months. The recurrence rate was 23.1%. In aneuploid group the mean following up time was 22.6 months. The recurrence rate was 50.0%. Ploidy correlated significantly with recurrence rate, the recurrence rate for patients with aneuploid were significantly higher than for those of diploid (Ｐ=0.013), also the recurrence rate of aneuploid within one year (37.9%) was much higher than that of diploid (4.3%) Ｐ=0.002. In a Logistic multivariate analysis of DNA content, the grade of cirrhosis severity and the tumor size were considered to be independent factors that related with recurrence. Conclusion FCM DNA analysis of radically resected HCC is a simple and valid method to predict the recurrence.
