Urinary cholesterol—VI. Its excretion in women with inoperable inflammatory carcinoma of the breast

The urinary excretion of nonsterified cholesterol (NEC) in 14 women with inoperable inflammatory carcinoma of the breast has been investigated. Patients with breast diseases other than carcinoma as well as patients with a variety of nonsteroid‐related neoplasms comprised control groups. NEC was determined by the gas‐liquid chromatographic method of Vela and Acevedo.8 By this method, the range of NEC excretion for normal women was previously established as 0.35–1.50 mg/24 hr. Nine of 11 women with inoperable breast carcinoma demonstrated NEC hyperexcretion prior to radiation therapy. Four of 11 patients studied during the course of therapy showed a transient diminution of NEC to normal values of excretion. However, all patients evidenced NEC hyperexcretion after completion of therapy. Eleven of the original 14 patients have died. In the first control group, 7 of 42 patients with diseases of the breast other than carcinoma revealed NEC hyperexcretion before histopathologic diagnosis. Of these 7 patients, 2 had fibroadenoma, 4 had fibrocystic disease, and 1 had cystosarcoma phyllodes. In the second control group that comprised 46 women with nonsteroid‐related neoplasms, there was no NEC hyperexcretion regardless of age, type of cancer, or severity of the disease. The results parallel the finding of NEC hyperexcretion in previous studies of patients, both males and females, with histopathologically proven carcinomas of the steroid‐producing glands and their main target organs.