One hundred seventeen experts have contributed to a review of the present status of endocrine surgery in the management of advanced cancer of the breast. The present volume is the result of a meeting held in Lyon, France, May 5 to 7, 1966. Introduced by Huggins and opened with a paper by Dao, the symposium volume brings together the results obtained in a number of medical centers with adrenalectomies, adrenal-splenic transplantation, and surgical and radioactive hypophysectomies. In addition, sections are devoted to fundamental biological studies and a comparison of medical and surgical techniques for the control of breast cancer.
In over 2,600 bilateral adrenalectomies, objective responses were obtained in 15% to 38% of cases, with an operative mortality of 2.7% to 4%. In more than 1,500 hypophysectomies, objective improvement occurred in 19% to 38% of cases, with an operative mortality of up to 6%. The variability of response emphasizes the