Anomalous lung cancer cell carriage: a historical review with present prospects

It is a scientific axiom that anomalous findings may imply imperfections in current concepts and are often a stimulus to discovery. Therefore, this article surveys the publications extending from 1818 to 1897 in order to quantify the experiences of the medical masters because they were perturbed that, at autopsy, lung cancer cells usually failed to cross the midline to the opposite lung. Accordingly, there is need to recognize that this is actually an anomalous phenomenon which requires explanation. In all probability, the anomaly is explicable on the basis of the workings of a hitherto hidden Factor which originates in lung parenchyma. Therefore, it is argued that the Factor would perform best in the contralateral lung. Finally, it is hypothesized that its conspicuous effect in the contralateral lung is what explains the anomaly of low or no colonization of that most eligible site in the body. Incidentally, surgical cannulation and videomicroscopic retrieval of dying and living cancer cells will provide subsets for research on the phenomenon proper.