The lognormal distribution of growth rates of soft tissue metastases of breast cancer

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Abstract
The gross growth rates of 158 soft tissue metastatic lesions of breast cancer in 54 patients seen at Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital were studied. The frequency distributions of both the linear diametric and exponential volumetric (doubling time) growth rates were lognormal and were analyzed statistically as such. Among the 66 untreated metastatic lesions, parasternal lymph node had the fastest growth rate, although this could be a reflection of the crudeness of the measurement method. Undifferentiated or poorly differentiated recurrent lesions in the chest wall appeared to consist of two heterogeneous groups: one group grew faster than the more differentiated cancers and the other group slower, suggesting tumor with more necrosis. This paper further documented the prevalence of lognormal distribution of events associated with human cancers.

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