Medical society in the early 1900s.

The Archives Section of the Hawaii Medical Library contains bound volumes of printed transactions of the Hawaii Territorial Medical Society Annual Meetings beginning in 1904, and minutes of the monthly meetings of the Society from December 2, 1905. During the monthly meetings, papers were read, cases presented, specimens shown, and business conducted. The latter often concerned problems or ideas that have continued to reappear and stimulate and/or frustrate members to this day.

Breast cancer in women of Japanese and Caucasian ancestry in Hawaii.

A pathology review of breast cancers in Japanese and Caucasian women indicates more numerous in situ carcinomas in the Japanese. Carcinomas with uniform nuclei were also more numerous among Japanese. Japanese women showed more extensive lymphocytic infiltrates adjacent to their tumors than did Caucasian women, and also showed more conspicuous sinus histiocytosis in tumor-free lymph nodes. Fewer Japanese women had lymph node metastases and those with metastases were less likely to have three or more nodes involved. Of these differences only those relating to local invasion, nuclear grade, lymphocytic infiltration, and sinus histiocytosis were statistically significant, but the demonstrated differences are internally consistent with differences in breast cancer incidence and mortality in the two races. Since the two races share the same medical care system and similar environments, the basis of these differences is probably a genetic modulation of hormonal balance and/or immunologic response.

Histopathological features and their association with steroid receptors in women with breast cancer in Fukuoka, Japan.

In Fukuoka, Japan, infiltrating duct carcinoma predominated among 213 breast cancer cases, age 45 to 74. Lobular and medullary carcinomas were infrequent. About thirty three percent of the women had marked productive fibrosis, based on the UICC code type. Both rough margin and productive fibrosis of the cancer increased with age of the patients. On the contrary, most of accompanying hyperplastic lesions decreased with age. The difference was significant for cystic formation between 10-year age groups of 45-54 and 55-64 (chi 2 = 6.61, p less than 0.02). Hormone receptors of 115 of the cases were independently measured and characterized according to histologic patterns manifesting host reaction (stromal cell infiltration and lymph node histiocytosis). Positive estrogen receptors were more frequent among ductal carcinomas with slight or no cellular reaction than those with extensive cellular reaction. The same pattern was also present for progesterone and androgen receptors. The extent of sinus histiocytosis in lymph nodes without metastasis was also inversely correlated with the presence of these hormone receptors. The correlation was significant for androgen receptor (chi 2 = 5.31, p less than 0.05). Positive estrogen receptor was more common among ductal carcinomas with prominent fibrosis than among those with minimal fibrosis.