[Morphologic features and biological properties of melanomas in children]

A complex morphologic study was made of primary skin melanoma, its metastases to the lymph nodes in a boy of 8, as well as of the tumour inoculate from the lymph node of the child on nude mice BALB/c in passages 1-6, 9, 10 and 44. The mitotic regimen of the material was studied. The data obtained show that childhood and adult melanoma is characterized by the same clinical-morphologic features. The electron microscopic study provided additional information for the confirmation of the histogenesis and identification of the melanoma type. To study individual sensitivity to antitumour drugs, it might be more reasonable to use first passages of the tumour, as the ultrastructural cell differentiation in them is maximally similar to the original one.