Accurate Identification of Experimental Pulmonary Metastases2

Abstract

The accurate counting and sizing of small, lightly pigmented tumor metastases in the lungs of experimental mice have been facilitated by the development of a method whereby the lungs were insufflated with a 15 percent solution of India ink. After being washed with Fekete's solution, which is a bleach preservative, these tiny implants, not detected in the unstained fresh lung, became discretely visible. The accuracy and time-saving features of this method aid in the verification of lung metastases and permit a much wider range of spontaneous and induced animal tumors in studies of experimental tumor metastases.