Small Cell Sarcoma Research Articles

Rhabdomyosarcoma in childhood

Fifty-four rhabdomyosarcomas in children affected mainly the pelvis and scrotum, 22 cases, head and neck, 19, and limbs and limb girdles, 11. Rhabdomyosarcomas of the female genital tract occurred only in children under 2 years, and those in the lower eyelid presented in the first year of life. A leiomyosarcoma-like appearance, and an undifferentiated small cell sarcoma sometimes mimicking Ewing's tumour, were patterns giving rise to diagnostic difficulty. Many fine gradations from undifferentiated embryonal to almost purely differentiated "pleomorphic" examples, made microscopic classification arbitrary. However, the histological pattern had no bearing on prognosis in children in this series. Of the 46 cases adequately followed, 43 are dead. Two of the 3 long-term survivors had paratesticular tumours.

Adenovirus Tumorigenesis: Role of the Viral Genome in Determining Tumor Morphology

Adenovirus type 12 transforms the fibroblastic BHK21 (baby hamster kidney) cell line into rounded or cuboidal cells that give rise in hamsters to undifferentiated small cell sarcomas indistinguishable from those induced in newborn hamsters by inoculation of the virus itself. In contrast. cells from this line transformed by polyoma virus retain their fibroblastic morphology and induce fibrosarcomas in hamsters. This suggests that the morphology of tumors induced by the adenovirus-transformed cells from this line may be determined by the viral genome and that such mechanism may also explain the remarkably uniform microscopic appearance which seems to characterize tumors induced in hamsters by direct inoculation of adenovirus type 12.

Carcinoma of the thyroid in children; a 10 year follow-up.

The purpose of this paper is to review 5 cases of thyroid cancer in children followed for more than ten years. These cases were first reported by one of us (1) (H.F.H.) in February 1937. At that time, 6 patients had been studied, 5 of whom were then alive and are still living and well ten years later. Cancer of the thyroid in children is a rare disease. We have seen a total of 6 histologically proved cases in addition to the 6 cases originally reported. Some of these patients were seen only in consultation and were not treated at the Clinic. Langmann and Bruch (2) reviewed the literature in 1938 and found a total of 20 cases of cancer of the thyroid in children, to which they added one of their own. Seventeen of these patients were living, the longest survival being nine years after diagnosis and operation. These writers concluded that thyroid cancer in children runs a more benign course than the same condition in adults. This is in accordance with our experience and the observations of others. Since the article by Langmann and Bruch, few authentic cases have been recorded. Martin (3) observed thyroid cancer in 3 patients, aged nine, fifteen and thirteen years, 2 of whom were still alive one to two years after roentgen and surgical therapy; the third had just begun treatment at the time of the report. In a review of 774 cases of malignant thyroid lesions, Pemberton (4) found 4 in patients under ten years of age; all 4 patients were girls and the youngest was seven years of age. The series included also 13 patients in the second decade of life, of whom 8 were girls. Thus, 17 patients under twenty years of age constituted 2.2 per cent of the total number of cases. Williams (5), of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, reported 2 cases of carcinoma of the thyroid in children fifteen years of age and added 1 case of small-cell sarcoma in a girl of eleven years, who died six months after diagnosis of pulmonary metastases. Scotti (6), among 64 cases of cancer in children, encountered Grade I carcinoma of the thyroid in an 11-year-old boy, who died three days following surgical intervention. Congenital teratomas should be included in any discussion of malignant disease of the thyroid in children. These lesions are usually recognized in infancy. Sutton and Gibbs (7) reviewed the literature in March 1944 and reported the thirty-first authentic case of congenital teratoma. In the same year Munro and Waldapfel (8) added another case, which was cured by operation. Hürthle-cell tumors of the thyroid gland have been reported in infants. A review by Morrow (9) indicates that by December 1945, 23 cases of Hürthle-cell tumor had been recorded, 3 of which had been recognized in infants. In these 3 cases the tumor had been regarded as adenomatous, but definite conclusions were unavailable as to whether or not it was malignant.

Sarcoma of the Breast

Primary sarcoma of the breast is a rare condition and the number of published cases few. For this reason the prognosis following surgical treatment of these tumors and their biological reaction to radium and x-rays are still but imperfectly known. It seems worth while, therefore, to record even a short series of cases despite the fact that many of the older records are incomplete and the preservation of the tissues is often poor. Malignant connective-tissue tumors of the breast may arise in preexisting fibro-adenomas or may spring from any portion of the pectoralis major fascia whose trabeculations constitute the supporting septal framework of the breast. The fat, nerve, and underlying muscle tissue may also give rise to sarcomatous neoplasms, though each contributing tissue in its turn usually presents several types of cell constituents. Tumors formerly described as small-cell sarcomas of obscure origin are now usually regarded as small-cell undifferentiated carcinomas, lymphosarcomas, and myelomas. In addition to those tumors whose origin can be traced with fair certainty to a single type of preexisting connective tissue, there is a small group of mixed tumors composed of several distinct types of adult tissue suggesting a teratomatous origin except that all the components are mesodermal derivatives. A still more unusual type contains derivatives of two germ layers.

LYMPHOBLASTOMA

We have recently had the opportunity to study two cases of cutaneous tumor formation. We found that these tumors consisted of small round cells which we considered to be of lymphoblastic derivation. These two cases were presented at the New York Academy of Medicine and there was a divergence of opinion as to whether the condition was leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma or mycosis fungoides. One of them was regarded clinically as a case of either Hodgkin's disease or lymphosarcoma; the other, as either mycosis fungoides d'emblee, leukemia or cutaneous sarcoma. Biopsies from these cases were presented to several authorities. In our first case, opinion as to diagnosis varied from Hodgkin's disease to leukemia to lymphosarcoma. In the second case, the opinion was that the condition was lymphosarcoma or a small cell sarcoma. In an attempt to classify our cases definitely we studied pertinent literature and found that there were two

Mesenchymatous Tumors of The Lung and Pleura

Within the past ten years a greater incidence in primary carcinoma of the lung has been observed (1). Mesenchymatous tumors, both benign and malignant, however, continue to be considered very rare primary newgrowths of the lung. Adler (2) states that primary sarcoma of the lung is a great rarity, and he did not observe a single case, but he believed the extreme rarity of such growths might be exaggerated. He collected 94 sarcomas from the literature and in reviewing these in his monograph observed that many were not well differentiated from carcinoma and only a few could be considered as true primary sarcomas. Hickey and Simpson (3) reported two chondromas of the lung and reviewed 40 cases. Other authors (4) emphasize the great infrequency of the primary tumors of the lung and pleura. Kaufmann (5) describes the occurrence of small chondromas but considers malignant tumors such as spindle-cell, or small or mixed cell sarcoma, as very rare primary growths. He also points out, as has been our experience, tha...

Art. IX.???Case of Intra-Laryngeal Tumour (showing under the microscope mixed characters, principally, however, those of small-cell sarcoma)???in a Syphilitic Subject. Partial Evulsion, Perichondritis, Abscess pointing exteriorly, Fistula of Larynx, Necrosis of Thyroid Cartilage; Tracheotomy; Death; Examination, Post-mortem; Remarks

Art. IX.???Case of Intra-Laryngeal Tumour (showing under the microscope mixed characters, principally, however, those of small-cell sarcoma)???in a Syphilitic Subject. Partial Evulsion, Perichondritis, Abscess pointing exteriorly, Fistula of Larynx, Necrosis of Thyroid Cartilage; Tracheotomy; Death; Examination, Post-mortem; Remarks