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Objective: To assess the risk of local recurrence of intraductal carcinoma of the breast with a large series and a review of literature., Methods: We present a retrospective study of 331 cases treated for intraductal carcinoma of the breast. Only patients with at least 5 years follow-up were selected. We were specially interested in recurrence risk factors. In these patients with a long follow-up; pathology was reevaluated with new investigation technique., Results: After a median follow-up of 109 months, 40 local recurrences were observed; these lesions were invasive in 23 cases. Only one patient had recurrence after mastectomy. For the others, they had lumpectomy associated with radiotherapy in 12 cases. Histologic features, grade and therapeutic options were evaluated as risk factors of local recurrence., Conclusion: Follow-up after lumpectomy for intraductal carcinoma was studied. The status of tumor margins was important; irradiation appeared useful, specially in case of high grade carcinoma but further large prospective randomized studies are needed. The use of prognostic index is interesting, but there are still unanswered questions.

Mediastinal B-cell lymphomas (with or without sclerosis) have been recently recognized as an entity with particular clinical features. We report 26 patients with a mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. They represent 5% of the patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 2% of all non-Hodgkin's lymphoma seen in our centre between 1962 and 1990. They include 19 females (73%) and 7 males (27%). The sex ratio was 2.7 and the median age was 44 years (range: 17-84 years). Compressive symptoms in relation with a bulky mediastinum were present in 21 cases (80%) and with B symptoms in 5 cases. All these patients received 2 to 4 cycles of chemotherapy with a CHOP-like protocol (epirubicin or doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisone) followed in 24 cases by mediastinum irradiation (40 Gy). Two patients progressed during chemotherapy and did not receive radiotherapy. Nineteen patients had a consolidation chemotherapy according to the same protocol. Twenty-one patients achieved a complete remission after chemotherapy or radiotherapy and 5 failed. Two patients relapsed at 10 months and 9 years. Seventeen patients are alive and in first complete remission with a median follow-up of 102 months (range: 60-260 months). Using the Kaplan-Meier method, the overall survival at 5 and 10 years was respectively 77 and 61% and the relapse-free survival was respectively 68 and 57%. These results confirm the previous findings concerning this distinct entity which is characterized by a predilection for young women, compressive symptoms, a slow response to treatment and a rather good prognosis.

The evolution of techniques has increased the number of diagnosed thyroid papillary microcarcinoma challenging the previous therapeutic guidelines. We have studied all thyroid cancers in our data base (from 1953 to 1994, N = 698). One-hundred and eleven were papillary microcarcinomas (none before 1967): 83 M0N0, 24 M0N+ et 4 M+. One-hundred and eight pathologic slides could be obtained and were checked by one of us (pathologist). The mean follow-up was 8.6 yr [1-28]. Two clinical and pathological features were different between M0N0 and M0N+ (groups: i) the sex-ratio, 12 vs 50% men (M0N0 vs M0N+, p < or = 0.0001), ii) the invasiveness of the tumor, 54/83 vs 20/24 (M0N0 vs M0N+, p = 0.01). All patients received a suppressing treatment by thyroid hormones (except lobectomy). The other treatments were: for 64/83 M0N0 a total thyroidectomy followed by a I131 treatment, for the remaining no I131 (15 partial thyroidectomies and 4 total thyroidectomies). None of the M0N0 patients displayed metastasis or cancer relapse. All patients M0N+ had a total thyroidectomy followed by a I131 treatment. Among the latter, I had a major node evolution, the death was attributed to the cancer at the age of 83 after a 6 yr long evolution. Among the 4 patients considered as metastatic. 1 was poorly differentiated. For the remaining 3, the thyroidal origin of the metastasis was not clear. In summary, the papillary microcarcinomas display a good prognosis if devoid of metastasis. We propose the following guidelines: a total thyroidectomy followed by a I131 treatment and suppressing treatment if clinical nodes, or non-encapsulated tumor or multifocal tumor. For solitary tumors, well encapsulated a lobectomy appears sufficient.

Background: A wait-and-see policy (WS) does not appear to modify the long-term prognosis of advanced-stage follicular lymphomas (FL), while irradiation of limited stages sometimes causes complications and does not avert distant relapses. Consequently, we decided to test WS in a selected subset of the localized FL, i.e., patients in complete remission (CR) after the initial lymph node biopsy (stage I0)., Patients and Methods: Forty-three previously untreated patients were diagnosed with stage I0 FL and 26 of them were included in the WS. Their median age was 60.3 years; 19 were male and 24 female. All histological slides were reviewed and confirmed the diagnosis of FL. Median follow-up was 6.3 years (y)., Results: Thirteen of the 26 untreated patients are still relapse-free, while six relapsed locally only (median: 4.2 years after diagnosis), and reattained CR with radiotherapy. Seven patients relapsed at distant sites (median: 1 year after diagnosis). No localized relapses were observed in the treated group, but there were 7 distant relapses., Conclusions: The use of WS in stage I0 FL did not appear to modify the prognosis of these patients. Furthermore, we observed two distinct patterns of relapse (local and distant) that are difficult to differentiate at onset.

The pathological material of 35 patients with Hodgkin's disease lymphocyte-depletion type (type 4) is reviewed with an immunohistochemistry study on paraffin-embedded sections. The new pathologic data are compared with clinical features. These 35 patients are 4.7% of 742 previously untreated patients managed in this institution from 1960 to 1991. The diagnosis of 31 of the 35 patients was rectified, 17 to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (12 unclassifiable and five anaplastic Ki-1 positive) and 14 to another type of Hodgkin's disease (six nodular sclerosis and eight mixed cellularity). In four cases, the pathologic material was neither sufficient nor satisfactory to allow a clear-cut distinction between Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The analysis of clinical data before and after pathological revision did not show any difference in clinical features, either between Hodgkin's disease "type 4" and other types (1, 2 or 3) or between cases with Hodgkin's disease and those with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is, however, a significant male predominance for Hodgkin's disease versus non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (P = 0.029, exact Fisher test), and B symptoms in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (P = 0.056), whereas B symptoms are commonly seen in advanced stages of Hodgkin's disease. It is emphasized that all Hodgkin's disease of lymphocyte-depletion type should be reviewed and discussed before any treatment, and this diagnosis actually means non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or other types of Hodgkin's disease.

We report the case of a 42-year-woman treated for an appendicular carcinoid tumor with bilateral ovary metastases and mesenteric node involvement. After a systematic mammography, an infraclinical lesion of the breast was detected. Mammographic and echographic images revealed nodular mass with possibly malignant features. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy indicated malignancy. The definitive diagnosis of breast metastasis of a carcinoid tumor was made by biopsy. This case is related to 14 previously published cases. The authors emphasize the importance of making a precise histological diagnosis to avoid overtreatment of a metastatic lesion.

From a series of 89 clinically inflammatory breast cancers, the authors settle a subgroup of tumors, the infiltrative ductal carcinomas with a pleomorphic structure. They have better histological and hormonal prognostic criteria than the other carcinomas, especially the infiltrative ductal carcinomas with an atypical structure: lower SBR grading (p = 6.10(-5)), estrogen and progesterone receptors positive rate more frequently (p = 10(-4)). A prospective study will allow to confirm the better response to treatment and especially the better survival rate of this metastatic high risk breast cancer subgroup.

Lymph nodes in breast cancer have been examined by two histological techniques in 324 patients who underwent axillary node dissection. A routine pathologic examination consisted in the examination of only one pathological section while in the other, the lymph nodes were macroscopically serially sectioned. With the latter, an increase of 18.8 per cent in the number of detected metastases was noted. However this increase can be considered of prognostic and therapeutic importance only in 8.6 per cent of cases: half corresponding to those cases in which more than the initial threshold number of three lymph nodes were found, the other half corresponding to those cases in which one lymph node was found while the initial examination was negative. In the latter case, the increase of lymph node involvement was mainly due to "clandestine" metastases, i.e. lymphatic embolisation of micrometastases.

During the years 1958-1984, 2 362 patients presenting with breast carcinoma were treated at the Fondation Bergonié by modified radical mastectomy and followed or not by radiotherapy or adjuvant chemotherapy. A retrospective analysis of this series showed that 77 patients (3.3%) presented an isolated locoregional recurrence as the first sign of treatment failure. A chest wall recurrence alone was noted in 47 patients, while 30 presented an involvement of the lymph nodes, sometimes associated with chest wall disease. The prognosis' factors of isolated locoregional recurrence, studied by multidimensional analysis by Cox's model are by decreasing order the disease free interval and the Scarf and Bloom's histologic grade. The median survival is 29 months after isolated locoregional recurrence and the survival curve is very similar to that of patients with isolated bone metastatic recurrences (median survival of 26 months) and slightly better than the median survival of patients with non osseous metastasis (median survival of 16 months).

The sensitivity of drill-biopsies (Rousseau's technique) was studied before using them routinely in pre-treatment investigation of breast adenocarcinomas. Results of histological examination, and estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors levels obtained preoperatively by this technique, were compared with those from the corresponding mastectomy or tumourectomy specimens in 85 cases. Cytological examination of the various specimens, performed on prints, was used to compare their cellular density. Measurement of receptors included the determination of cytosolic and nuclear sites, and was performed by the single point dextran charcoal method. The limits of positivity established for ER and PR were 10 and 15 fM/mg protein respectively. The results showed sensitivity of 91.8 p. cent for pathology examinations; furthermore, the Scarff-Bloom-Richardson histoprognosis grading could be performed satisfactorily on drill-biopsy specimens. No significant difference was observed between the percentage of positivity for ER and PR from surgical and drill-biopsy specimens. Good correlation existed between values obtained from drill-biopsy and from surgery both for ER (r = 0.86, p less than 10(-5)) and PR (r = 0.86, p less than 10(-5)).

One thousand two hundred and twenty-five partial breast resections, examined in serial gross sections have been retrospectively reviewed. The percentage of benign lesions in comparison with malignant lesions is 70 per cent-30 per cent. The percentage of malignant lesions is maximum (43%) in clustered microcalcifications which are so the best criteria of malignancy. A diagnosis of non infiltrating carcinoma has been misdiagnosed at the first examination in 6 per cent of cases. This misdiagnosis is partially explained by very small foci of carcinoma and recent recognition of certain histological types of early carcinoma. It must be noticed the unsuspected frequence of carcinoma (17%) detected by random in ipsilateral breast tissue from plastic surgery, after controlateral reconstruction for carcinoma. The analysis of benign lesions associated with carcinoma shows a significative frequent association with carcinoma in two types of lesion: radial scar and late phase of blunt duct adenosis.

37 uterine tumors originally diagnosed as uterine sarcomas at Fondation Bergonié between 1970 and 1982 were histologically reclassified. 15 patients were excluded from this study because of inadequate data or not confirmed initial diagnosis. The 22 remaining cases were classified as leiomyosarcomas 13, endometrial stromal sarcomas 7 and mixed mesodermal sarcomas 2. The mean age of the patients was 56. The cases were classified according to the FIGO staging system. 5 patients had previously undergone (between 1 and 8 years) a subtotal hysterectomy for uterine leiomyoma. 5 patients had stage 1 sarcoma, 13 patients stage III and 2 patients stage IV. 13 patients are dead, 7 are alive without evidence of disease, 2 are alive with evidence of disease. The 5 year actuarial survival rate was 30%. Tumor extent at diagnosis was not correlated with survival. Analysis of failures revealed : 4 metastatic, 5 metastatic and pelvic and 6 isolated pelvic failures. Prognosis was not significantly different between leiomyosarcomas and endometrial stromal sarcomas. There was no pelvic failure in patients with stage I sarcoma (treated by surgery plus radiotherapy). Survival was not found to be correlated with histopathological grade as described in soft tissue sarcomas. Nevertheless a correlation (non significant) was found between survival and mitosis count. Chemotherapy (Cyvadic) was administered in 8 advanced tumors with partial response (always below 50% of the initial tumor) in 5 patients.

This work presents the results of the classification by histological types of 876 cancers, operated on between November 1979 and December 1982, according to the new WHO's classification of 1981. Noninfiltrating cancers represent 6.5 per cent of the total. Among the infiltrating cancers (93.5%), the individualization of the type "infiltrating duct carcinoma with a marked intraductal component" (14.5%) is interesting for this form justifies a special treatment in consideration of its multicentric and sometimes bilateral character. Its purely quantitative criteria of definition is subject to criticism and discussion.