Histologic material from 84 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck regions was studied by double blind retrospective analysis. Sections of lymph nodes draining the tumors were examined microscopically to assess the morphologic pattern of response. Patients whose lymph nodes demonstrated active immunologic responses in the form of expanded inner cortices or increased numbers of germinal centers had 5-year survival rates significantly greater than those patients whose regional lymph nodes showed an unstimulated pattern. None of the patients whose lymph nodes showed the depleted pattern survived 5 years. These correlations were independent of the stage or grade of the tumor. Metastases occurred much more frequently in patients having regional nodes showing an unstimulated or depleted pattern than in those whose regional nodes showed evidence of immunologic activity. The data support the concept of a relationship between immunologic activity, progression of neoplasia, and survival. Morphologic assessment of immunologic activity in lymph nodes draining malignant tumors appear to be of significant value in the predicting survival.

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Histologic material from 75 cases of uterine cervical cancer was studied with particular emphasis on the morphology of the regional lymph nodes. Sixty‐seven cases were squamous cell and eight were adenocarcinomas. Sixteen were metastatic and 59 non‐metastatic. Five‐year survival data were available in 42 cases. We found that lymph nodes could be classified in four distinct histologic patterns which we designated “lymphocyte predominance,” “germinal center predominance,” “lymphocyte depletion,” and “unstimulated.” Correlation of the histologic pattern with the presence or absence of metastasis and the survival data demonstrated that lymphocyte predominance was common in non‐metastatic cases and in cases with high survival rate. The “lymphocyte depletion” pattern was common in metastatic cases and in cases with low survival rate. The “germinal center predominance” pattern was associated with an intermediate survival rate. The possible relationship of these patterns to host cell‐mediated and humoral immune responses is discussed.