Giant cell carcinoma of the lung. A quantitative and histogenetic analysis of eight new cases

An analysis of the so-called giant cell carcinoma of the lung was performed in the light of eight new cases (five macrocellular and three cylindrocubic carcinomas) with different proportions of giant cells, and of a quantitative study of giant cells within the structure of 60 lung carcinomas, fifteen of each basic type of proliferation. Taking into account these data and those of the literature, it was concluded that giant cell carcinomas do not form either a basic type or a variant (subtype) of one of the lung carcinoma types, as suggested by WHO's typing (macrocellular). They represent, in author's conception, only particular forms of neoplastic proliferation in the lung, in which special conditions arising during the prolonged promotion phase influence mitosis, differentiation and/or maturation and modulation of cells composing the proliferating neoplastic foci. The large variations in the amount of giant cells also reflect these intervening actions.