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Six cases of mammary carcinoma with osteoclast‐like giant cells are reported. In addition to the multinucleated giant cells and the prominent stromal angiogenesis reported in earlier reports, other characteristic features of the tumors were observed: (1) the gross appearance, characterized by a well‐outlined, lump‐shaped, dark brown tumor mass; (2) the round tumor shadow on the mammograms, originally interpreted as a cyst, a fibroadenoma, or a medullary carcinoma; and (3) the “adenocystic” pattern of the invasive tumor growth. The light and electron microscopic observations point to the intimate relationship between the tumor cell clusters and the giant cells and provide further support to the theory that these giant cells develop from mononuclear histiocytes in response to the production of some sort of extracellular material by the tumor cells. All of the 26 positive axillary nodes of three patients, and many intramammary lymphatics with tumor thrombi of two patients contained giant cells. These observations indicate that the benign giant cells comprise an integral part of the invasive tumor growth. The six cases were recognized in a series of 527 consecutive breast cancers, during a period of 4 years, in a population of about 75,000 adult women. These data question the reported rarity of this distinctive variant of mammary carcinoma.

SUMMARY Suppositories containing 300 mg 5‐aminosalicylic acid (1.96 mmol) or 425 mg acety1‐5‐aminosalicylic acid (1.96 mmol) were used in 40 patients with idiopathic proctitis to determine the efficacy of acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid in treating this bowel inflammation. Each patient was treated with 5‐aminosalicylic acid or acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid suppositories twice daily for 4 weeks in a double‐blind trial. Four patients were included twice in the trial. The second time they were treated with the alternative regimen. Six patients in the acetyl‐5‐aminoscylic acid group did not complete the trial, four of them because of diarrhoea. Complete clinical remission with normal rectal mucosa on sigmoidoscopy was achieved in 10 out of 18 patients on 5‐aminosalicylic acid and in only two out of 15 in the acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid group (P= 0.03). A favourable histological improvement was demonstrated with 5‐aminosalicylic acid suppositories, but the difference with acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid was not significant (P= 0.059). Three of the four patients who received both drugs recovered with 5‐aminosalicylic acid; in none of them was acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid effective. The results from this study and from previous investigations show that acetyl‐5‐aminosalicylic acid is not superior to placebo.

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