A. Sixten Franzén (26 November 1919 – 15 March 2008) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

scientist, and a leading

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

researcher of the 1950s and 1960s. He pioneered

fine-needle aspiration Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a diagnostic procedure used to investigate lumps or masses. In this technique, a thin (23–25 gauge (0.52 to 0.64 mm outer diameter)), hollow needle is inserted into the mass for sampling of cells that, aft ...

cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

, in which suspected cancer cells are removed through a very fine needle for examination under a

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

. Sixten Franzén was born in in

Östergötland County Östergötland County ( sv, Östergötlands län) is a county or ''län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the n ...

. After passing his ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968 ...

'' in

Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...

, he studied medicine at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and did practical work at the

Karolinska University Hospital The Karolinska University Hospital ( sv, Karolinska universitetssjukhuset) is a teaching hospital affiliated with Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, with two major sites in the municipalities of Solna and Huddinge. The hospital network is ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, where he continued to work for most of his career. He became a

Bachelor of medical sciences A Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMedSci, BMedSc, BSc(Med), BMSc) is an undergraduate academic degree involving study of a variety of disciplines related to human health leading to an in depth understanding of human biology and associated research s ...

in 1943, an MD in 1949, and after being recruited to work in

Radiumhemmet Radiumhemmet is a non-surgical cancer treatment and radiotherapy research institution in Solna, Sweden. Since 1938, it has been a division of what is now the Karolinska University Hospital. It was founded in 1910 in central Stockholm as the first ...

, the university's oncology clinic,

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

and tumor diagnosis in 1968. On his retirement from the Karolinska University Hospital he was awarded the title of professor; he continued as a researcher for another twelve years, at Radiumhemmet and then at the

Norwegian Radium Hospital Oslo University Hospital, Radiumhospitalet ( no, Oslo universitetssykehus, Radiumhospitalet) is one of the four campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, and is dedicated to cancer treatment. This part of the hospital is the most specia ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. Franzén was trained in

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

rather than cytology, but pioneered fine-cell aspiration cytology as a method of diagnosing cancer after noticing that he could sometimes recognize

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

cancer cells in liver biopsies. He also invented a pistol-grip handle to make aspiration of cell samples easier, and a method of trans-

rectal The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the gut in others. The adult human rectum is about long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the sigmoid colon) at the le ...

sampling of

prostate The prostate is both an Male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found only in some mammals. It differs between species anatomically, ...

masses. Colleagues originally criticized him for practicing

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

, but scientific opinion gradually swung to approve the technique; of three groups who developed it independently, his attracted the most attention for their publications. In 2006 he was declared International Cytopathologist of the Year. He married Elsa Hedberg in 1944; they had five children.

Selected publications

* with Joseph Linsk, ''Clinical Aspiration Cytology'', Lippincott, 1983

Sources

*"Franzén, A Sixten", ''Vem är Vem?'' Stor-Stockholm ed., 196
online
at

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...

*Jerry Waisman MD, Lambert Skoog MD, PhD, Edneia Tani MD
"Sixten Franzen, MD, PhD, Honorary Professor, 1919–2008"
''Cancer Cytopathology'' 114(5) 285–86, 25 October 2008, DOI: 10.1002/cncr.23795 *''Utvald att leva'' (English: ''Chosen to live''), Bonniers 1996, by

Jerzy Einhorn Jerzy Einhorn (26 July 1925 in Częstochowa, Poland – 28 April 2000 in Danderyd, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Polish-born Swedish medical doctor, researcher and politician ( Kristdemokrat). His Hebrew name was Chil Josef, after his paternal grand ...

, who worked with Franzén. Swedish scientists Cancer researchers 1919 births 2008 deaths {{Sweden-scientist-stub