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Granulomas consist of an aggregation of lymphocytes and of phagocytes (polynuclear and histiomonocytes) around a tissular lesion. The cells are provided by the blood and/or the lymph. Other cells develop in the focus. Within the granuloma appear other cells which derive from the previous ones, viz immunoblasts, plasmocytes, macrophages, epithelioid and giant cells. These elements cooperate to destroy the invading agent. Mastocytes, fibroblasts and myofibroblasts join in. In the granuloma these latter give rise to scarring.

Intracytoplasmic tubuloreticular structures were found in the tumour cells of a human lymphosarcoma. Such structures have been described in a wide variety of conditions in man and in animals, as well as in cell cultures of various origin, but rarely in lymphoid tumours. The different hypotheses concerning their nature are discussed.

Histological examination of the various specimens taken during an exploratory laparotomy for Hodgkin's disease revealed the presence of epithelioid cells in 56 cases out of a total of 235 patients (i.e. 23.8 p. 100). These cells were disseminated throughout the lymphoid tissue or grouped in clumps, in plaques or, more rarely, as true follicles. They were found either in contact with Hodgkin's lesions or at a distance in organs free of disease. They were found in Lukes-Rye histological types 1, 2 and, above all, 3. Their significance remains unknown. The most likely hypotheses would appear to be those of a response to the accumulation of substances to be eliminated (tumour antigens?) or those of a disorder in cellular immunity.

During systematic laparotomies in patients with Hodgkin's disease, the spleen is removed and multiple visceral biopsies (lymph nodes, liver, bone marrow) are done. In 58,8% of the cases, the spleen is normal. In 41,2% of the patients, the spleen shows localizations of Hodgkin's disease. A tumoral spleen has sometimes a normal size (34,9% of the involved spleen). A huge spleen is not always involved by tumoral lesions (10% of the spleens without tumor). When the spleen is tumoral, lymph node involvement is more frequent and more diffuse. Generally the liver is not involved when the spleen is not tumoral. Hepatic tumoral localizations are disclosed by biopsies in 16% of the patients with splenic involvement. Bone marrow localization is found in 5,7% of the cases with splenic involvement. So exploratory laparotomy were precise pathological studies allow a better appreciation of the real extension of the lesions in Hodgkin's disease.

The case reported is one of lymphadenopathy due to haemophagocytic sinusal histiocytosis which had progressed for more than 10 years before resulting in death at the age of 58 years. In this advanced form, all superficial and deep nodes were involved. In addition to histiocytic hyperplasia, with haemophagocytosis and lipid overload, there was plasmocytic hyperplasia, i.e. B-lymphocytes, with polyclonal hypergamma-globulinaemia and an increase in the levels of many antibodies, in particular against rubella and the Epstein-Barr virus. The aetiopathological significance is discussed, in particular the role of an infection due to the EB virus.

The authors discuss the W.H.O. classification of neoplastic disorders of lymphatic and haematopoietic tissue proposed by G. Mathé and H. Rappaport. They note the points in common with previously published new classifications and make a number of remarks and criticisms. They stress the point most open to discussion: maintenance of the concept of reticulosarcoma. They propose the parallel use of several classifications, including the old nomenclature of Rappaport, in routine histopathology during the comming years.

Sections obtained from lymphoid tissues fixed immediately after biopsy in Bouin's fluid and embedded in paraplast may be used to visualize the immunosecretory cells with classical direct immunofluorescence. A comparative study of the same fragments processed according to the frozen section method followed by acetone fixation or according to Sainte-Marie's method confirms the value and the advantages of the proposed technique. Early fixation of thin fragments seems to be the main point.