[A comparative analysis of effectiveness of surgical treatment of fibroadenomas in young girls].

Results of the examination of young girls (13-17 years of age) who came to consult a doctor for different complaints of the state of their mammary glands are described. Age-dependent peculiarities of the mammary gland tissue in this category of patients imply the thorough preoperative examination. The ultrasonic investigation of the mammary gland is the method of choice.

[Proteolytic enzyme activity in stomach cancer patients with various prognoses].

Activity of lysosomal proteinases cathepsin B, L and D was studied in tissues of malignant tumors, cancer and normal lymph nodes and mucosal membrane obtained from 18 patients with gastric cancer. The enzymatic activity was distinctly higher in cancer tissues as compared with controls. Activity of cathepsin D was increased in tissues with diminished rate of the tumor differentiation, with pronounced cancer invasion and metastases to regional lymph nodes--the group of highly negative prognosis.

[Cathepsin D activity in gastric cancer].

The levels of activity of cathepsin D were compared in neoplastic and normal gastric mucosa in 42 patients, aged 39-78, at different stages of the disease. A relationship was established between cathepsin D activity and main clinico-morphological characteristics of stomach tumor: cathepsin D activity was found to increase with decreasing differentiation and increasing depth of invasion and metastatic spreading of tumor tissue. Possible involvement of proteolytic enzymes and, in particular, an aspartyl proteinase--cathepsin D--in the mechanisms of invasion and metastatic spreading of neoplasms is discussed.