[A letter from an old physician to a young student].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Wallgren.
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Data in the Stockholm Regional Cancer Register were compared with death certificates for persons who died of carcinoma in 1978 and were domiciled in Stockholm County. Concordance between cancer register diagnosis and certified underlying cause of death was 87 per cent. Many malignant tumours in organs which often show metastases were unspecified by one of the registers. In many other cases of discordance, differing site codes denoted anatomically close-lying organs. Age distribution did not differ between concordant and discordant diagnostic groups. Coordination of the cancer register and the mortality statistics as regards coding routines and disease classification presumably would enhance inter-register comparability.
One hundred and fifty patients with breast carcinoma were examined to compare axillary node status, estrogen receptor level and cellular DNA content as prognostic indicators. Seventy-four per cent of the patients were postmenopausal and forty per cent had axillary node metastases. Estrogen receptor was measured by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel. DNA was measured in individual cell nuclei by means of Feulgen-acriflavine-sulphate stained imprints. Fifty-two per cent of the tumors had diploid and/or tetraploid DNA pattern, and the rest aneuploid pattern. Axillary node metastases, aneuploid DNA pattern and low level of estrogen receptor were related to recurrence. When introduced into Cox's proportional hazards procedure, axillary nodes and estrogen receptor level but not DNA pattern remained as significant predictors of recurrence.
The prognostic significance of various morphologic factors (size of nuclei, nucleoli, mitotic frequency, naked carcinoma nuclei, nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio, size of cell clusters, necrotic matter, mucoid matter, and lymphocytes) was studied in aspiration biopsy smears from 494 carcinomas of the breast. A multivariate analysis of clinical and cytologic variables was performed with regard to five-and ten-year survival.
The prognostic influence in operable mammary carcinoma of morphologic predictors evaluated in smears of needle-biopsy aspirate and in tissue sections and of clinical stage was investigated. Size of nuclei in smears of aspirate was found to convey prognostic information of the same order of importance as the variables tubule information and mitotic frequency in tissue sections. The combination of clinical stage with variables in smears and in sections enhanced the explanatory value.
Needle aspirates from 598 histologically verified carcinomas of the female breast were reviewed. Four cytologic types were recognized: duct cell, acinic cell, apocrine cell, and mucous cell carcinoma. Duct cell carcinomas were further subdivided into ductal, ductular-acinar, monolayered and dissociated types. The highest ten-year survival rate was found in mucous cell carcinoma, and the lowest ten-year rates in acinic and dissociated duct cell types. The derivation of the mammary carcinomas is discussed on the basis of comparisons with cellular aspirates from benign mammary lesions. It is suggested that ductular-acinar, monolayered, dissociated and acinic cell carcinomas, which comprised about 50 per cent of the tumors originate in the lobular structures of the mammary gland. The problems involved in distinguishing well differentiated forms of the mammary carcinomas from the corresponding benign structures in needle aspirates are also discussed.
The capacity of PWM (poke-weed mitogen) to stimulate Ig-secretion by blood lymphocytes was examined before and at various times after local radiation therapy (46.0 Gy) for breast cancer. It was observed that the secretion of IgM, IgA and IgG were significantly reduced at completion of radiation therapy. Secretion of IgM was reduced to the highest relative extent (approximately 10% of the pretreatment value). Thereafter there was a recovery of the Ig-secreting capacity which, however, remained below the pretreatment level, 12-18 months after completion of radiation therapy. The capacity of PWM-stimulated blood lymphocytes to secrete specific antibodies against morbilli and herpes simplex virus was also significantly impaired after radiation therapy. The reduction of Ig-synthesis in vitro was not correlated with the increase in the ratio between numbers of monocytes and lymphocytes in peripheral blood after radiation therapy. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.