Studies on Sex Chromatin in Thyroid Diseases - Especially Tumors of Thyroid Gland -

Thyroid tissues obtained from 360 cases by means of operation were classified pathohistologically into normal thyroid, benign thyroid diseases and malignant thyroid tumors and stained by FEULGEN\u27 S method. Sex chromatins of follicular epithelial cells (tumor cells) and interstitial cells were counted for each case and incidence of sex chromatin was compared among those groups. The specimens used in the present study were all obtained from female subjects ranging in age from 15 to 77. In most cases of normal thyroid and benign thyroid diseases, incidence of sex chromatin showed more than 30%. However, in 2/3 of the cases of so-called malignant adenoma where capsular invasion was verified, incidence of sex chromatin was less than 30% in the very region of the capsular invasion but over 30% in the uninvaded region. In the cases of thyroid cancer, incidence of sex chromatin was less than 30%. It was higher in papillary adenocarcinoma and follicular adenocarcinoma than undifferentiated carcinoma. There was hardly noted any difference in incidence of sex chromatin between the primary lesion and the metastasized lesion in the lymph node. Variation in incidence of sex chromatin by age was not recognized in the disease groups but only in the group of normal thyroid