The Qualitative and Quantitative Histological Examination of Biopsy Material from Patients Treated by Radiation for Carcinoma of the Cervix Uteri

The individual response to radiation of 166 carcinomata of the cervix uteri, treated since 1938, has been assessed by means of a quantitative histological examination of serial biopsies. The subsequent clinical findings have confirmed the histological assessment in the majority of tumours examined, the proportion of agreements increasing with time after treatment. The histological assessment has, therefore, a useful prognostic value.A further series of 502 carcinomata of the cervix treated radiologically between 1930 and 1939 was classified on a pre-radiation biopsy according to their degree of anaplasia and the results compared with the clinical follow-up which covered a period of at least five years. In this series also it was found that the response of anaplastic tumours to radiation tended to be less satisfactory than that of differentiating tumours.The significance of these observations to radiotherapy is discussed.