Pearls
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Pearls are pathological designations referring to certain details of neoplastic processes that form rounded nodules in tissues resembling grains of pearl. These processes are not homogeneous and can include tuberculous granulations in cattle pearl disease or concentric layers of epithelial cells in skin ulcers and squamous cell carcinomas.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
Pearls, pearl-like, designations used in pathology with respect to certain details of neoplastic processes, expressed in the formation of delimited rounded nodules in tissues, which by their external appearance resemble grains of pearl. Essentially, the processes observed in this case are by no means homogeneous. Thus, in the form of a group of P. (pearls), tuberculous granulations in the so-called pearl disease of cattle may appear (see Pearl disease); on the other hand, the formation of P. is often observed in atypically proliferating strands of stratified squamous epithelium, for example, in chronic ulcerative processes on the skin, and especially in squamous cell carcinomas, when concentrically and tile-like layers of overlapping and keratinizing epithelial cells form small spherical clusters, which by their grayish translucent appearance resemble grains of pearl. Cholesteatomas bear great resemblance to pearls.
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“Pearls.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/pearls/