AN ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF CLINICAL PAGETS-DISEASE OF THE NIPPLE

An ultrastructural study of the epidermis from eight patients with cli nical Paget's disease of the nipple supports the epidermotropic theory . There was no evidence that the Paget's cells originated from keratin ocytes. We propose the hypothesis that Paget's cells represent transfo rmed ductal cells, from the subjacent lactiferous ducts of the nipple, which have migrated into the epidermis, either as neoplastic cells or as normal ductal cells with secondary in sitz! transformation in the epidermis.