title: The analysis of malignant tumours of uncertain origin with immunohistological techniques: clinical follow-up.
abstract: In order to assess the clinical value of immunohistological analysis of tumours of uncertain origin, 84 patients have been followed up over a period of up to 9 years. All biopsies had been referred because of diagnostic difficulties. In keeping with previous studies the majority of the cases (69%) were non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, followed by carcinoma (23%) with a mixture of melanomas and sarcomas making up the remaining 8%. The survival of lymphoma cases was clearly better (approximately twice as long) than that of patients with other tumour types. In spite of the difficulties in their histological diagnosis the survival curve for lymphomas, recognised by immunocytochemical means, was very similar to that for the series of high-grade lymphomas reported by the Kiel group. These findings show that lymphomas recognised immunocytochemically behave similarly to other lymphomas and confirm that immunohistological analysis of tumours of uncertain origin is of practical clinical relevance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alcock
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Gatter
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Mason
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy