Further researches on some parasitic protozoa found in cancerous tumours. [Pt. 1] / by M. Armand Ruffer and H.G. Plimmer.

  • Ruffer, Sir Marc Armand, 1859-1917.
Date:
[1893]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Further researches on some parasitic protozoa found in cancerous tumours. [Pt. 1] / by M. Armand Ruffer and H.G. Plimmer. 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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    of the bodies described, and the accuracy of the descriptions, cannot be denied, but the proof that they are parasites has by no means been furnished.” There are several other points in Dr. Joseph Coats’ interest- ing contribution, to which we shall have to refer as we proceed with this paper. Our investigations have been made on various carcinomata of the tongue, skin, thyroid gland, omentum, peritoneum, uterus, vulva, and on cases of cancer of the breast in women, taken without distinction from forty-five consecutive amputations of the breast at the Cancer Hospital, Broinpton, two from University College Hospital, and two from private operations. The reason why we limited ourselves after a time to carcinoma of the breast is, that we soon found it would be a thankless task to spend our time in examining cancers from various parts of the body, in order to trace the life-history of a parasite. It appeared to us to be evident, judging from our own investigations, that these parasites can be demonstrated, by appropriate means, in all cancers. How it is quite possible that the various cancers of different organs may contain parasites differing in kind, etc., and we thought it would be preferable, therefore, to try and trace the life-history of the protozoon in one kind of tumour of one organ, in which we might reasonably suppose that we had always to do with the same parasitic organisms. The reasons which decided us in choosing cancer of the breast for our investigations are, first, its relative frequency, and, secondly, because, on account of its fairly large size, and its not being usually in free communication with the open air, it is easy to remove parts of it aseptically for cultivation and other experiments. Moreover, we soon found that carcinoma of the breast generally contains these parasites in large numbers, thus giving investigators a good field for studying the life-history of the protozoa. For fixing purposes we have entirely given up alcohol alone, as the results, although occasionally very good, are uncertain. In some cases, indeed, we were unable to find parasites in alcohol specimens, when the examination of parts of the same cancer fixed in other media revealed them in large numbers. Osmic acid, 1 per cent., and the solution first recommended by Foil, namely, equal parts of saturated solution of corrosive sublimate in ‘75 per cent, salt solution, and of 5 per cent, solution of potassium bichromate, gave excellent results. The osmic acid preparations, stained with eosin and hsematoxylin, were extremely instructive, whilst those fixed with Foil’s solution stained fairly well with Biondi’s reagent, or with eosin and aniline blue. For purposes of fixation we have also used, with striking results, a solution of chromic acid and spirit, which was first recommended, we believe, by Dr. E. Klein for the study of karyokinetic figures. The various staining reagents used will be discussed when we speak of the diagnosis of these protozoa. For the same reason that we found our- selves obliged to limit our studies to cancer of the breast, we must for