Uterine and tubal gestation : A study of the embedding and development of the human ovum, the early growth of the embryo, and the development of the syncytium and placental gland / By Samuel Wyllis Bandler.

  • Bandler, Samuel Wyllis, 1869-1932.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Uterine and tubal gestation : A study of the embedding and development of the human ovum, the early growth of the embryo, and the development of the syncytium and placental gland / By Samuel Wyllis Bandler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    From all sides, especially in England and Germany, this view- was attacked. It was pointed out how baseless was the view- that fetal cells could produce a growth of this malignant char- acter, differing from carcinoma only in the fact that metastases resulted through the blood channels instead of the lymph paths. This controversy is to-day by no means settled, many holding the view that these tumors are sarcomatous, originating from the decidua cells. The giant cells and the protoplasmatic masses are referred, likewise, to changes in the decidua. Others hold that these growths result from the epithelial covering of the villi. That these cells, if they are of fetal origin, should be mistaken for decidua cells is a natural error, for we know that even in the normal processes a positive distinction is often very difficult. It is to be noted that many investigators have called the typical trophoblast cells in tubal placentation, too, decidua cells. Still others lean to the view that the stroma of the villi plays its part. On the other hand, among those who hold that these growths originate from the chorionic covering a division of sentiment ex- ists ; for those who consider the syncytium and cells of Langhans to be of uterine origin class these growths as carcinoma and sar- coma of a somewhat atypical character. Those who believe, as we have shown, that the epithelial covering of the villi is of fetal ectodermal origin, and who therefore also class these tumors under the category of carcinoma, are introducing into pathology a new element. A factor which has served to clear our views on these various disputed points is the knowledge that fifty per cent of these malignant uterine growths, commonly known as deciduoma, fol- low the presence of hydatid mole. In hydatid mole we find the same elements as in normal pla- centation, only that these elements are excessive in number and size. Hydatid mole represents a hypertrophic growth of the chorionic covering, accompanied by dropsical swelling of the chorionic stroma. As is well known, the covering of the villi consists of two layers, an outer syncytium, an inner, the cell layer of Langhans. The growth concerns both the syncytium and the cell layer of Langhans. The abnormal element is the occurrence of very large cells with immense nuclei in large number, and a decided growth of the syncytium, accompanied by the forma- tion in the. latter of large vacuoles. Leaving out of consideration those cases malignant because of the diffuse and deep infiltration of the uterine wall by the cystic