title: [Ultrastructural study of small cell carcinoma (author's transl)].
abstract: Fifty bronchopulmonary tumors were studied by light and electron microscopy: 39 carcinomas (25 small cell carcinomas, 8 undifferentiated carcinomas, 6 poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas) and 11 carcinoid tumors (5 central, 4 peripheral, 1 atypical, 1 of the tumorlet type). The results indicate that small cell carcinoma is a precise entity characterized by the presence of neurosecretory granules in the cytoplasm. Ultrastructurally carcinoid tumor resemble small cell carcinomas and there is a continuous spectrum of differentiation between the less undifferentiated neuro-endocrine tumors, i.e. the small cell anaplastic carcinomas, and the higher differentiated types, i.e. the carcinoids. The diagnostic and prognostic value of the ultrastructural findings are discussed.
mesh_terms: D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D011379:Prognosis
vernacular_title: Diagnostic ultrastructural des cancers anaplasiques à petites cellules.