Primary carcinoma of the fallopian tube. A retrospective study of patients reported to the Danish Cancer Registry in a five-year period.

Fifty-two patients with carcinoma of the fallopian tube diagnosed and treated during a 5-year period in Denmark were reviewed. The median age of the patients was 60 years. No patients had a preoperative diagnosis. History and clinical findings were similar to previously reported series. Treatment consisted of hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, often succeeded by postoperative whole pelvic irradiation. Five-year survival was 37.4%, depending on stage. In stage I+II the survival rates were similar regardless of whether postoperative radiation therapy had been given or not. Little is known about the patterns of spread. The relatively bad prognosis for stages I and II after radical surgery indicates early undetected metastases and the need for more aggressive adjunctive therapy.

Liver cell carcinoma in young women possibly induced by oral contraceptives.

Two cases of liver cell carcinoma in young women ingesting oral contraceptives have been found within a few months in the county of Vejle, Denmark. Including these two patients 22 cases of liver cell carcinoma in young women have been published since 1973, 19 of whom have used oral contraception. The possible effects of oral contraceptives in inducing liver tumors is discussed, and it is pointed out that no statistical proof of such an effect exists at present.

PIP: 2 cases of liver cell carcinoma in young women taking oral contraceptives are reported. All cases occurred in Denmark. Also discussed are 19 other cases of liver cell carcinoma reported in Danish literature since 1973 in patients using oral contraception. In both cases reported here, the intake of oral contraceptives was of short duration: Patient 2 had used Ovanone for 2 years and Patient 1 had used an unknown combined formula for from 1-2 years followed by use of a gestagen pill for 6 months before and 6 months after her pregnancy. Both tumors were diagnosed postpartum. Previous cases of liver cell carcinoma have been reported in pregnant women not taking oral contraceptives. Deposits of alpha-1 antitrypsin were found in the tumor of 1 of the cases reported here. It is emphasized that the risk of contracting liver cell carcinoma is very small (19 oral contraceptive-connected cases out of millions of users), and there is still no statistical evidence that oral contraceptives are causative for this carcinoma.

Reliability of histo-pathological diagnosis of squamous epithelial changes of the uterine cervix.

The reliability of histological diagnosis of squamous epithelial changes was tested by letting 13 pathologists read 1,001 consecutive cervical biopsies twice. Intra-observer and inter-observer agreement, variance, and deviation of diagnosis were determined. The diagnostic ability showed great individual variation and no significant correlation to experience in pathology. The diagnosis of invasive cancer had a high diagnostic specificity, and the diagnostic sensitivity of the diagnosis of no significant epithelial changes was high too. The reliability of the diagnosis of dysplasia and carcinoma in situ proved unsatisfactory.

LDH release into perfusates of preserved kidneys.

The measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release into perfusates after hypothermic storage was found to be a reliable index of ischemic injury of rabbit kidneys. Kidneys were exposed to warm and cold ischemia for varying periods. Each kidney was perfused before and after storage at simple hypothermia with 25 ml of a modified Collins solution. The venous effuent was collected in 5 ml fractions. Total LDH activity was measured in the first fraction after storage and used as a measure of ischemic tissue damage. It was confirmed that increasing the period of cold ischemia result in significant increases in LDH activity. The release of LDH into perfusates was then used to compare kidney damage after preservation with various fluids. With this method, it was not possible to demonstrate any difference in the extent of tissue damage after preservation with sodium-rich vs. potassium-rich perfusion fluid. Addition of steroids, vitamins and essential amino acids did not prevent or reduce tissue damage, estimated in this way. The effects of adding cryoprotectants to the perfusion fluid varied; LDH release following addition of 5% DMSO was significantly greater, and after addition of 5% glycerol smaller than the release after perfusion with a modified Collins solution alone. Stepwise addition of DMSO up to 20% resulted in serious tissue damage with a large LDH release into the perfusate.