Multiple primary malignant neoplasms in the air and upper food passages.A statistical review

Abstract

ROBLEMS of multiple neoplasia in partic-P ular systems such as the air and upper food passages may be investigated in a variety of ways. Experimental considerations apart, there appear to be 3 main types of approach: histological, descriptive, and statistical. If one cancer in any system under consideration predisposes to the development of a further cancer, or more generally is attended by an altered chance of this contingency, it is then conceivable that this may manifest itself in histological changes in epitheliums at a distance from and separate from the original cancer. Auerbach and co-workers' by the application of special histological techniques have already effectively demonstrated this and have shown that cancer of the lower respiratory tract can no longer be regarded as a spatially discrete and isolated phenomenon. By means of a recently described mucosal stripping and "Swiss roll" technique,s the histological features of the entire laryngeal epithelium in cases of early intrinsic cancer is under analysis in an effort to determine whether the findings of Auerbach et al.1 in the tracheobronchial tract are applicable to the larynx. These investigations exemplify the histological approach.