THE LYMPHOBLASTOMAS

Abstract

In 1924,¹ in a discussion on leukemia cutis, reference was made to the classification and interpretation of diseases of lymphatic origin. At that time, the genetic relationship existing between this large group of clinically divergent dermatoses was pointed out, and the suggestion offered that the multiple clinical pictures associated with true lymphadenoses should be regarded as the variable cutaneous expressions of the lymphoblastomas. The proper evaluation and classification of the diseases of the lymphatic system remains one of the outstanding problems of modern medicine, as it has been since Virchow's original description of leukemia. In 1902, Breakey,² while marshalling the factors in favor of the sarcomatous nature of the microscopic observations in case 1 of this series, as opposed to the evidence in support of its being a granuloma, expressed the opinion that "while the study of these dermatoses has been prosecuted with greater vigor than ever within