Squamous cell carcinoma of the subglottis.

Study Design: A retrospective study over a 25-year period of patients with laryngeal carcinoma treated by the Department of Otolaryngology at Wake Forest University.

Methods: The boundaries of the subglottis were defined as 5 mm below the free edge of the true vocal folds extending to the inferior border of the cricoid cartilage. All were staged according to American Joint Committee on Cancer: stages I and II were considered early and stages III and IV as late.

Sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes of patients with oral carcinoma.

Sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were studied in cultured peripheral lymphocytes of 22 untreated patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and 29 age- and sex-matched controls. The SCE rate in cancer patients was not significantly higher compared with that found in controls, but there was a significant correlation between the SCE rate in lymphocytes of the cancer patients and the size of the primary tumor.

The reliability of frozen-section diagnosis in various breast lesions: a study based on 3451 biopsies.

In this study, we analyze breast biopsy material over a 5-year period and we compare the results of frozen-section diagnosis with the corresponding diagnosis of the permanent histologic sections. In this study, which represents the largest series in the available international literature, it is proven that frozen-section diagnosis of various breast lesions is a highly accurate procedure in spite of the difficulties facing the pathologist with the frequent borderline or premalignant lesions. The great responsibility of the pathologist is emphasized.

Lymphocyte reactivity in patients with cancer of the oral cavity measured by sister chromatid differential staining.

Lymphocyte reactivity in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral lymphocyte cultures from 22 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and 29 age- and sex-matched controls was measured by the bromodeoxyuridine-Giemsa method for demonstrating sister chromatid differential staining. One hundred metaphases from each donor were counted, and the proportions of cells in the first, second, and third cycles were scored to estimate the in vitro mitogen responsiveness and cell division rates of the lymphocytes. The in vitro reactivity of peripheral lymphocytes of cancer patients was impaired in comparison with that of the controls, and the degree of reactivity of lymphocytes in cancer patients was not related to the size (greatest diameter) of the primary tumor.

Karyotypic abnormalities of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

The karyotypic abnormalities in 18 squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity were studied in unbanded chromosomes on direct preparations of the tumor material. The chromosome counts revealed a great variability in the number of chromosomes per cell of each tumor, the range being from 31 to 148 in all cases studied. The modal population of cells was diploid in five cases, triploid in eight cases, tetraploid and pentaploid in one case each.

Uncontrolled growth of tumour stromal fibroblasts in vitro.

The disturbance of the growth control mechanisms in tumour cells in vivo may be manifested as uncontrolled growth of the tumour stroma in vitro. Stromal fibroblast-like finite cell lines produced from benign or malignant human breast tissue specimens exhibited cell overlapping which ranged from multilayers to dense piling up colonies, while cells derived from normal tissues exhibited intense contact inhibition of growth and locomotion, under the same culture conditions. 6 out of 13 lines derived from malignant tissues and 2 out of 5 lines derived from benign lesions exhibited the phenomenon of 'periodic appearance of piling up colonies'.

Correlation between serum and tissue deoxyribonuclease levels in breast cancer patients.

Acid and alkaline DNAse levels were determined in the serum of 224 breast cancer patients and in the extracts of 121 breast tissue and 48 lymph node biopsies of the above patients. The DNase levels were compared to the histological diagnoses of the tumors. Serum and tissue DNase levels were found to be significantly increased in malignancies as compared to benign conditions.

The detection of glucocorticoid receptors in breast cancer by immunocytochemical and biochemical methods.

Glucocorticoid receptors have been detected in 90 human breast tumors and tumor-like conditions by the immunoperoxidase method using a specific antibody against the glucocorticoid receptor isolated from rat thymocytes. In some of the specimens the [3H]-dexamethasone binding assay was also performed and the results obtained were compared with those of the immunoperoxidase method. When the biochemical method was used, no strict correlation between the degree of binding of [3H]-dexamethasone and malignancy on the basis of histological findings could be demonstrated.

Elevated urine estrogen and pregnanediol levels in daughters of breast cancer patients.

Urine levels of three major estrogens and of pregnanediol were measured for 76 nulliparous daughters of breast cancer patients and for 115 control women of similar age and parity. Concentrations of estrone and estradiol tended to be higher in the daughters of breast cancer patients than in the controls; total estrogens were elevated in both phases than in the controls; total estrogens were elevated in both phases of the menstrual cycle and significantly so in the luteal phase. There was little difference between the daughters and the controls in estriol ratios--the ratios of the concentration of estriol to the sum of the concentrations of estrone and estradiol.

Adrenalectomy for disseminated breast cancer.

Forty-three patients (two males and 41 females) were submitted to bilateral adrenalectomy for disseminated mammary carcinoma. Several factors were considered for their prognostic value in predicting the response to endocrine ablation. The age of the patients, the treatment of the primary lesion, the free interval, the location of metastases and the involvement of regional lymph nodes did not affect the response to adrenalectomy.

Antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and other neoplastic conditions.

Sera from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) or other malignant diseases and from apparently healthy controls were examined for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies. A difference existed in the percentage of positive sera among the groups studied. High-titer antibody levels were observed in the NPC group, but no statistical difference was found among other groups of patients and controls.

Telemetric estimation of the descending colon pressure changes on dogs before and after total and selective vagotomy.

This experimental study describes the pressure changes of the descending colon before and after total and selective vagotomy combined with Finney's pyloroplasty as estimated by telemetry. The results obtained from the study of 20 dogs show that the motility of the descending colon is extremely reduced after total vagotomy with no change after selective vagotomy.