Quantitative Histological Analysis of Radiation Effects in Human Carcinomata

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Abstract
Glücksmann (1941) published a histological method of assessing, quantitatively, the response of epitheliomata and basal-celled carcinomata to radiation. This was followed by a paper (Glucksmann and Spear, 1945) describing the application of the method to carcinoma of cervix uteri. Biopsies were taken before, during, and after treatment, and in “selected young areas” all cells were counted and classified in four categories: resting, dividing, differentiating, and degenerate cells. The results were then expressed graphically as percentages of the total cell population counted. The change in the ratio of cells in those four groups was considered to indicate the response of the cells of the primary tumour to radiation treatment. A favourable response was to be expected from tumours showing a disappearance of resting and dividing cells, and increase in the number of differentiating and degenerate cells. An unfavourable response was indicated by little change in resting and dividing cell counts, and very often ...