[Causes of local edema in the infiltrative edematous form of breast cancer].

The study was concerned with comparison of the characteristics of primary tumor in 80 cases of the infiltrative-edematous form of breast cancer. The control group included 192 patients with breast cancer unaggravated by edema. The involvement of regional lymph nodes proved to be the same in both groups. On the average tumors in the edematous breast cancer group were much larger and the rate of their growth much higher than in controls. The said pathogenetic differences are discussed. It is suggested that edema is primarily caused by disturbances in transcapillary metabolism at tumor site which are, in turn, induced by tumor metabolites.