Multinucleated tumor cells and malignant melanoma.

Multinucleated cells (MC) were counted in cell preparations obtained by dissociation of representative part of tumor lesions immediately after excision. MC were present in almost all specimens examined (39 advanced primary lesions, 90 lymph node metastases and 33 dermal plus subcutaneous metastases); in one third of the samples they were very rare (less than 1% of all cells). There were no significant differences in quantity of MC between primary tumors, node metastases and dermal plus subcutaneous metastases, between node metastases seen early in the course of the disease and those seen later, and between regional node metastases taken from Stage II patients with rapidly progressing disease and regional node metastases taken from patients of the same stage whose disease-free intervals were longer. No unique pattern of similarities or differences in quantity of MC was found when comparing autologous tumor samples excised simultaneously and/or successively during the course of the disease.