[The carcinogenic role of earlier x-ray irradiation of multiple epitheliomas of the back. Critical study of 15 personal cases].

The authors report 15 cases of multiple epitheliomas of the back, concerning patients who had been previously submitted to X-ray irradiations. Their cases are divided into two groups: the first comprises 11 patients who had undergone lumbar and sacral anti-inflammatory radiotherapy for rheumatologic diseases; the second concerns 4 patients who had had many fluoroscopic examinations for lung tuberculosis and later developed multiple epitheliomas of the back. For each group of patients, they detail the irradiation procedures, and indicate the interval before the subsequent tumoral development, as well as the histologic features. In both groups, basal cell epitheliomas prevail with any type of histologic pattern (mainly pagetoid, however). Fibroepithelial tumours of Pinkus are not more numerous in the lumbar area (on the contrary: 20 p. 100 against 28.57 p. 100). Precancerous keratoses and Bowen-like conditions are only found in the second group (in fact in a single patient). The important feature is not the topography but the dose of irradiation. Fourteen out of 15 patients had only basal cell epitheliomas and fibroepithelial tumours.