Fibrinolysis in Human Bronchogenic

The fibrinolytic activity in tumour cells from 52 human bronchogenic carcinomas was studied by the histochemical technique described by Todd. A com- paratively high fibrinolytic activity was found in tumour cells from 40-50% of bronchogenic carcinomas classified as epidermoid carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, while the majority of small cell anaplasti¢ carcinomas had a comparatively low fibrino- lytic activity. No correlation was found between fibrinolytic activity and local lymph node involvement. However, in epidermoid carcinomas, the frequency of intravascular tumour growth was increased significantly in tumours with high fibrinolytic activity compared to tumours with low fibrinolytic activity. Three bronchial adenomas separately studied showed high fibrinolytic activity.