The Dormant Cancer Cell*

The time elapsing between the excision of a human malignant tumour and the appearance of a clinically recognizable recurrence varies from a few months to thirty years. It is usually short, being less, sometimes appreciably less, than a year or so, and when of this order of duration it is probable that the secondary tumours are the product of continuous and unsuppressed proliferation of the cells of microscopic fragments of growth, some of which are portions of the primary growth which have escaped excision, whilst others had already reached a distant orgap or tissue by lymphatic, venous, or arterial embolization before the tumour was removed. Temporary MNtotic Arrest