So in small biopsy specimens it might be difficult to get the S-phase or proliferation index, but again I think most diagnostic labs have access to it. In every case the most information is the best information. So the more we have, the better equipped we are at making prognostic predictions as well as therapeutic decisions. I would encourage everyone to try and get as many of these studies done as possible on each specimen. There's not a lot of information out on it in books and things that are available to women.
Normal cells have two copies of each chromosome.
Those cells are called diploid. In cancer cells sometimes there is an abnormal amount of DNA and the ploidy measurement tells us if there is too much DNA or too little. Are there a lot of copies of the genes, and so on. The more abnormal the ploidy is, the more it differs from a normal cell that can give us an idea of how aggressive the tumor is behaving. So we have to be careful not to get hung up on just any one specific factor as being the determinate prognostically or therapeutically.