Testicular needle aspiration as an alternative to biopsy for the assessment of spermatogenesis.

The technique of fine needle aspiration (FNA) may have a role as a reliable, quick and easy method of obtaining testicular tissue. Recent advances in the management of male subfertility and, in particular, the finding that spermatozoa recovered from the epididymis and testis can result in embryo generation after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), question the traditional role of open testicular biopsy for the assessment of spermatogenesis. FNA of the testis was performed on 19 cases of male subfertility and histological and cytological preparations obtained were assessed by light microscopy.

Familial study of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and congenital aortic valve disease.

A woman with coexisting calcific aortic valve disease and hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy was studied before homograft replacement of the aortic valve and in the second and fourth postoperative years. Postoperative hemodynamic findngs, in studies performed with and without pharmacologic agents, were similar to those of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Echocardiographic studies 9 years after operation revealed asymmetric septal hypertrophy and systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve leaflet echoes.

Primary lymphomas of the gastrointestinal tract. I. Plasma cell tumours.

The histology of 125 cases of primary gastrointestinal lymphomas arising in the stomach and small and large intestine has been reviewed. The material was gathered from the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology at the Middlesex Hospital and from the Westminster Hospital. Of the initial total of 143 cases diagnosed, 18 were rejected.

An assessment of the value of spleen scanning in the staging of Hodgkin's disease.

The value of non-invasive spleen scanning with 51Cr-chromate heat damaged red cells has been assessed in 68 patients with histologically proved Hodgkin's disease in whom pre-treatment laparotomy with splenectomy was performed. The scans were reported independently by two observers. Following this, the uptake pattern of the radioactive tracer and size of organ on the scan were compared with the post-operative weight and pathology of the spleen.

The pattern of intramural veins of the left ventricle of the human heart.

A detailed injection, microradiographic, and histological necropsy study of 18 hearts showed that the pattern of myocardial veins differed from the arterial pattern. In "normal" hearts, large drainage veins began in the subendocardial zone and coursed fairly directly towards the epicardium, maintaining a comparatively even calibre throughout. Smaller, but similar, drainage veins also begain in the middle of the myocardial wall.

The diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in surgically excised spleens.

A series of 44 spleens removed from patients with Hodgkin's disease before treatment has been reviewed. The difficulties encountered in detecting foci of Hodgkin's tissue and the histological features and characteristics of early invasion are described.

Oestradiol receptors in carcinoma and benign disease of the breast: an in vitro assay.

An assay is described for measuring the concentration of specific, high-affinity oestradiol receptors in the cell supernatant fraction of breast tumour biopsies. The method has been applied to biopsies from 94 patients with malignant and benign diseases of the breast. Of the 53 biopsies classified as carcinomas, 37 contained high-affinity oestradiol receptors in concentrations ranging from 0·3-22·6 × 10(-15) moles/mg.

The pathological findings following laparotomy in Hodgkin's disease.

The pathological findings in 50 patients with Hodgkin's disease following laparotomy for diagnostic purposes are described. Forty-four patients had laparotomy before treatment and within a few months of the original diagnosis, while 6 patients had delayed laparotomies. The Rye histological classification was applied to the original lymph node biopsy, the abdominal lymph node and Hodgkin's tissue in the spleen.