Interaction of ultrasound with neoplastic tissue. III. Electron microscopic demonstration of ulstrasonic destruction of Wilms tumor and its cellular membranes
Longo, F.W.; Tomashefsky, P.; Rivin, B.D.; Longo, W.E.; Lattimer, J.K.; Tannenbaum, M.
Transactions of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons 68: 121-124
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0065-7204 PMID: 198927 Document Number: 107687
Exposure of 300 adult, male Wistar-Furth rats bearing subcutaneous implants of Wilms tumor to a vertically oriented planar ultrasound beam consistently resulted in a marked decrease in the growth rates of the tumors with an increase in the survival times of the treated animals. Grossly, the local effects consisted of a flattening of the tumors with clean excavation of their bases. Histologically, a line of demarcation was demonstrated between the sonicated (or destroyed) and non-sonicated portions of the same rat Wilms tumors. The sonicated portions exhibited a complete loss of the normal spatial relationship between the tumor epithelium and its surrounding mesenchyme. Ghost residuals of portions of individual cytoplasmic cell borders and nuclei with condensed chromatin patterns still could be discerned. Electron microscopy demonstrated a marked destruction of the nuclear and cytoplasmic cellular membranes with a migration of destroyed condensed chromatin material into the surrounding cytoplasm.