Comparison of ploidy status of melanoma metastases in different locations.

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the DNA content and ploidy status of 29 melanoma metastases in lymph nodes, as well as 10 liver, 12 brain, 13 lung and 2 gastrointestinal metastases. All cases investigated were either suspicious to be aneuploid or clearly aneuploid. This study demonstrates differences of ploidy related parameters between melanoma metastases of different locations. The 5c exceeding rate values were the lowest in lymph node metastases and the highest in melanoma cells in the brain (p<0.05). The rate of cells in S-phase ranged between 12% in gastrointestinal metastases and 23% in liver metastases. The melanoma cells, which formed liver metastases had smaller area, lower mass and bigger shape factors in comparison with melanoma cells in lymph nodes.