Albert compton Broders 1885–1964

Abstract

Albert Broders was born August 8, 1885, in Fairfax County, Virginia, attended Potomac Academy in Alexandria, Virginia, and received his medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia in 1910. Following internship, he entered the Mayo Clinic as assistant in surgical pathology, rising to Head of the section in 1922.

During the following years, Broders wrote extensively, and in 1924 originated the numerical system for the grading of cancer based upon the degree of differentiation of the tumor. The subject for this classics presentation is the paper that he and his colleagues published utilizing this classification and comparing it with the Dukes system. The approaches appear to complement each other, a fact which has been usefully employed recently in determining which patients are potential candidates for the application of a local procedure in the treatment of rectal cancer. A further benefit of Broders' classification may be in advising which patients should consider chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Broders was granted a year's leave of absence in 1935 to become professor of surgical pathology and director of cancer research at the Medical College of Virginia. He returned as Chairman of the Department of Surgical Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in 1951. He held honorary membership in medical societies in Chile and Argentina and was awarded Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the Medical College of Virginia and Washington and Lee University.

Broders died in Temple, Texas, March 26, 1964, at the age of 78.