Growth of seventy-eight recurrent mammary cancers:Quantitative study

With the model of exponential growth of cancers, it is possible to calculate the doubling time (DT) of a tumor from the recurrent nodule in the operation site. It is reasonable to suppose that the recurrence has its origin in a contemporaneous uni- or paucicellular hematogenic metastasis of the reparative granuloma. The average DT value of 78 cutaneous recurrences of operated mammary cancers is 40 days, with extremes of 3 to 211 days. The distribution of the DT values is bimodal, corresponding to two varieties of mammary cancer, one of quick growth with a DT of 25 days, the other of slow growth with an average DT of 93 days. In the rapid-growth group encephaloid cancers have a lower DT than scirrhous cancers.