Oat Cell Carcinoma

This is the same as small cell bronchogenic carcinoma. It is highly malignant and spreads very quickly.

In this picture you can see how the cells mould one another, revealing their epithelial origin. You can find several cells with pyknotic or karyorrhecic nuclei. You can see some outlines of dead cells too, and some oftheir protein debris.

If you have sharp eyes, you may even see a pigment-laden macrophage. The pigment may be iron from bleeding, or pigment from tobacco itself.

Oat cell carcinomas never make much of a fibrous stroma.

Of course there is no normal lung tissue left. This form of lung cancer occurs only in smokers. The rare exceptions have been in uranium / radium miners.

Oat cell carcinoma usually responds well to chemotherapy and stays in remission for at least a few months.

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