[Sinus histiocytosis in the lymph nodes of breast cancer patients having undergone extensive radical mastectomy].

Sinus histiocytosis in the regional lymph nodes of 45 patients with breast cancer who had undergone extended radical mastectomy was studied by histological examination of 2,294 resected lymph nodes. Sinus histiocytosis was divided into three grades, marked, moderate, and mild to negative, by Ohmori's classification. The results indicated that: 1) sinus histiocytosis correlates fairly well with clinical stage, especially with the n-factor, and 2) the degree of sinus histiocytosis shows little difference between three groups of regional lymph nodes. The authors concluded that sinus histiocytosis dominates the prognosis and represents some aspect of a reticuloendothelial response of the whole body to carcinoma.