Primary cancer of the Fallopian tube / by Alban Doran.

  • Doran, Alban H. G. (Alban Henry Griffiths), 1849-1927.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primary cancer of the Fallopian tube / by Alban Doran. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    in diameter, soft and yellowish-white in colour. Between these lobes were recent blood-clots, possibly effused on the tightening of the ligature during operation. No trace of normal ovarian tissue could be detected. A piece of the ovary was preserved, when fresh, for section. The microscopic appearances of the sections taken from the anterior wall of the tube are shown in Plate XIII, fig. 2. The portion of tube-wall prepared for the microscope was nearly one quarter of an inch thick, and on naked-eye examination it was seen to be partly invaded by the new growth. Throughout the section were wide spaces filled with large cells (a). The nuclei of these cells were also of large size. Some were undergoing division ; in some the “ signet ring ” appearance was seen. The fibres of the stroma did not appear to pass between individual cells, nor could I detect any connection between any cell and the stroma. In the immediate neighbourhood of every collection of large cells was a highly alveolar tissue consisting of a network of more or less stout fibres enclosing very elongated spaces, which were stuffed with small round-cells (fig. 2, &). In some parts of the sections the network was composed of the muscular fibres of the middle coat of the tube (c), and muscle-cells were even to be seen amidst the collec- tions of large cells, as is indicated in fig. 2. At first I thought that the trabecular tissue b represented scirrhous cancer, the masses of large cells indicating the softer part of the malignant growth, but after careful comparison I noted that the small round- cells were probably not cancerous at all, but were connective-tissue cells, produced by a process of proliferation observed in the neigh- bourhood of a cancer in any organ. In this opinion I was con- firmed by Mr. Butlin, Mr. Bowlby, Mr. D’Arcy Power, and others who are experienced in general pathology, and Dr. Grifl&th, who has prepared a large series of specimens illustrating the progress of uterine cancer, informs me that tissue like b in fig. 2 is constantly seen around the collections of epithelial cells in that disease. There were several other remarkable appearances in the sections. Bundles of muscular fibres, divided transversely, bore a strong resemblance to collections of epithehal cells on superficial examina- tion. Some parts of the sections were highly vascular. The pei'itoneal surface of each section showed some remarkable minute crypts, which Avere in some cases bifurcated, and I noted secondary