Trophoblastic Lesions Of The Lungs Following Benign Hydatid Mole

Abstract

The experience of the last seven years, in our work with the adenocarcinoma of the ovary, has taught us a number of things. Perhaps it would be better to say these have been reemphasized for essentially everything we have reported has been chiefly the application to a special situation of what was already known. The collaborative work of the basic science investigators with clinicians is at least one of the ways by which the work of laboratory and clinic may be brought into closer relationship. The importance of adenocarcinoma of the ovary has been stressed. Not only has work upon this been less than frequency deserved, but this tumour offers for the worker on cancer in general the opportunities of an observable histogenesis, of the existence of an “ascites phase” where proliferating cells may be observed in the natural culture media of the peritoneal fluid, of the phenomenon of spontaneous regression of a tumour that seems to be transitional between the benign and the malignant and, finally, an opportunity, seemingly unequalled among human tumours, of studying the essential phenomenon of neoplasia: differentiation. The importance of this process of differentiation and de-differentiation or of varying degrees of malignancy has been re-emphasized. Finally, report is made of early efforts to find such processes that could be so correlated. Differences between the benign and the malignant were found in respect to tissue respiration, rate of P32 incorporation in RNA and in the variability in amounts of DNA. The author has undertaken a review of the literature after observing 5 cases of spontaneous regression of tumours of the ovary and has found no less than 36 clearly proven or probable examples of spontaneous regression. No doubt there have been a number of similar incidences reported since that time for the occurrence appears not to be very unusual. Study of the histology of the cases immediately available to us, and review of the reports and photomicrographs in the literature, failed, however, to reveal a single instance of regressing tumors which could be described as “anaplastic” or even “fully developed” carcinoma in the histological sense.