Chorioallantoic membrane heterotransplantation of human brain tumors

Specimens of human tumors were taken from the operating room and directly heterotransplanted to chick chorioallantoic membranes. Seventy-one percent of the eggs survived the procedure and 41% of the tumors appeared viable after 1 week. Microscopically, the first-generation heterotransplants resembled the parent tumors. Many specimens showed evidence of growth, but in most of them there was also some degree of necrosis. The necrosis increased with serial heterotransplantation, so that tumor propagation usually was not possible beyond the second to third transplant generation; nevertheless, it was found that almost any histological type of intracranial tumor could be grown for short periods of time at least on the chick chorioallantoic membrane.