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Biomedical subjects

B Franc

Publications and source records attributed to B Franc.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

[Cytopuncture in tumors of the thyroid].

In a large review on the utility of fine needle aspiration biopsy of the thyroid in the diagnostic management of nodular thyroid disease, procedure, morphological diagnostic criteria and difficulties, complementary technics are overviewed. Relevant articles and series are reviewed to assess the results of fine needle aspiration biopsy. A question is highlighted: wether benign unoperated thyroid nodules diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy are they an underestimate risk group.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1996

[Rupture to the skin of atheromatous aneurysm on a femoropopliteal venous bypass using an in situ vein].

Atheromatous aneurysmal degeneration of a venous bypass graft is a rare and late event after venous bypass grafting. We report the case of a 49-year-old man in whom a large aneurysm of a saphenous graft implanted 10 years earlier ruptured to the skin. Amputation was required. Graft degeneration can lead to complications which may be life or limb-threatening due to graft rupture, graft thrombosis or distal embolization. Close follow-up after arterial reconstruction using a vein graft is therefore highly warranted for early detection and correction of any abnormalities before onset of complications.

Anastomosis, Surgical↗
PubMed1996

[Reliability of needle biopsy of solitary thyroid nodules in view of surgical indications].

To evaluate the accuracy of fine-needle biopsy in the management of the solitary thyroid nodules, 320 biopsies without aspiration were performed in 212 patients, iteratively in 91 cases. Among the 212 initial biopsies, 93 smears were found presumably benign (43.9%), 6 malignant (2.8%), 49 benign implying cytologic control (23.1%), 24 suspicious with decision to operate (11.3%), 40 inadequate (18.9%). On 67 surgical indications (malignant or suspicious cytology, or clinical data), 59 operations were performed. The 11 diagnosed cancers (5.2% of the patients; 18.6% of the operations) correspond to six malignant and five suspicious cytologies at the first or second biopsy. On 145 cases without decision to operate, 125 were clinically surveyed, with sometimes another biopsy (mean survey: 27.6 months; range: 6-80 months), and it was never necessary to modify the initial expectancy attitude. Our results, rather similar to those related by most of the previous publications, confirm that the fine-needle biopsy is a reliable and effective means for the etiologic diagnosis of thyroid nodules and the indications for operative intervention. It spares many patients from a useless operation and is worthy to take a leading place in exploring these nodules.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1995

Increased sympathetic nerve discharge without alteration in the sympathetic baroreflex response by serotonin3 receptor stimulation in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the rat.

Previous studies have shown that serotonin3 receptor activation in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) and inhibited the cardiac component of the baroreceptor reflex [9]. We have examined the effects of such stimulation upon spontaneous and evoked sympathetic nerve activity. Microinjection of serotonin (10 nmol) into the NTS of halothane-anaesthetized, paralyzed and artificially ventilated rats produced an increase in MAP and lumbar sympathetic nerve discharge which could be completely prevented by prior local microinjection of zacopride, a potent serotonin3 antagonist (200 pmol). In addition, 1-(m-chlorophenyl)-biguanide, a selective serotonin3 receptor agonist, mimicked the sympathoexcitatory effect of serotonin. Since the gain of the sympathetic component of the baroreflex was unaltered after intra-NTS microinjection of serotonin, it could be concluded that serotonin3 receptors activation in the NTS induces a sympathetic activation which is not mediated through an inhibition of the sympathetic baroreceptor reflex arc.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Telepathology in France. Justifications and developments.

Since 1985, the French National Association ADICAP (Association for the promotion of computer use in Cytology and Anatomic Pathology) has been active in the creation a microscope workstation for developing a bank of digitized images to be used for diagnostic and educational purposes. In 1989 one of the authors (P. Dusserre) has created a first telepathology network using this workstation. Since then, 32 workstations have been set up in private and public Departments of Pathology. Two of them are located overseas, in the Martinique and Guadeloupe islands. In this paper, the authors describe this system, called Transpath, which is a multi-purpose and modulable workstation. 3-years experience and several accuracy tests have shown that the quality of transmitted images ensure a reliable diagnosis in more than 95% of cases. It has been decided to extend this service to other French overseas territories and to develop a group of experts. The images bank will also be developed and recorded on CD-ROM. The authors intend to participate in a future European project (PILOT project, i.e. Pathology International and Local Operational Telematics), with the purpose of establishing real intercommunication between European and other networks on a worldwide basis.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed1995

[Reliability of the anatomopathological diagnosis by static image transfer].

50 hepatic biopsies and 50 prostatic biopsies were submitted for diagnostic to an expert by the mean of static images previously digitalized by a consulting pathologist. Accuracy of diagnosis was obtained in 2 minutes with 4 images in 86% of cases. Additional data such as new images, several power fields, permitted accuracy of diagnosis in 98% of the cases. The experiences showed clearly that the quality of the transferred static images is sufficient to allow diagnoses. It pointed out the importance of the different actors involved in the consultation. It illustrates the possible use of this system as a training tool.

Female↗
PubMed1995

[Current anatomopathological aspects of differentiated thyroid cancers of follicular (vesicular) origin: value and necessity of a common language].

This article reviews the pathology and classification of differentiated thyroid carcinomas. Diagnostic criteria are reviewed. Follicular and papillary carcinomas and their variants are described. New entities are detailed. Atypical adenomas and difficult follicular diseases are discussed. The need for a consensual terminology is assessed.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1994

C-cell hyperplasia associated with chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis: a retrospective quantitative study of 112 cases.

Since the first description by Wolfe et al of C-cell hyperplasia (CCH) in asymptomatic relatives of patients suffering from a medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), several investigators have described CCH associated with a chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (CLT) not within the context of MTC or multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN). We report the study of C-cell density in 112 cases of CLT on retrospective surgical material to determine the frequency of the association between CCH and CLT. The cases of CLT were compared with 19 normal thyroid glands obtained at necropsy. C cells, immunoreactive with a polyclonal anti-calcitonin (CT) antibody, were counted at high magnification (X400) and the number of low-power magnification (X100) microscopic fields (LPFs) containing at least 50 C cells per slide was assessed. Image analysis was performed to determine the C-cell density expressed in number of C cells/cm2. C-cell hyperplasia was defined by the following criteria: C-cell density > 40 cells/cm2 and the presence of at least three LPFs containing more than 50 C cells. Twenty percent of the cases of CLT showed a CCH thus defined, and four of them had an elevated serum CT level. Statistical analysis showed no clinical or biological correlation with the presence of CCH. However, the frequency of CCH was higher if a follicular cell carcinoma was associated with CLT. This study confirms a pathological association between CCH and CLT, provides new criteria for the definition of CCH on surgical pathology material, and reports four cases with an elevated serum CT level not within the context of MTC or MEN.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Circadian pattern of motor activity in major depressed patients undergoing antidepressant therapy: relationship between actigraphic measures and clinical course.

The 24-hour motor activity pattern was evaluated in 26 inpatients with major depression at treatment onset and after 4 weeks of antidepressant therapy. Clinical state, depression, and psychomotor retardation, as well as motor activity level and circadian rhythm, were simultaneously assessed. Treatment responders and nonresponders were also considered. Diurnal hypoactivity and reduced 24-hour rhythm amplitude were found at treatment onset. Activity level increased significantly on discharge. The rest-activity cycle for each depressed patient fit a cosine function of 24-hour periodicity. Data tended to show no phase shift but a large intragroup phase variability. Preliminary findings of a negative correlation between basic activity level and clinical improvement, and a trend toward responders having a lower activity level than nonresponders, suggest that activity could be used to predict therapeutic response.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Pentagastrin stimulation test and early diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma using an immunoradiometric assay of calcitonin: comparison with genetic screening in hereditary medullary thyroid carcinoma.

A pentagastrin stimulation test using a calcitonin (CT) immunoradiometric assay was performed in 38 healthy subjects and in the following 50 patients: 25 subjects from families with at least 2 known cases of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), 11 subjects from families with apparently sporadic MTC, 2 pheochromocytoma carriers, 1 primary hyperparathyroidism, 8 patients with thyroid nodules, and 3 others with various diseases. In healthy volunteers, basal CT values were always less than 10 ng/L; the response to pentagastrin was below 30 ng/L for 36, and for the remaining 2, the peaks reached 30 for 1 subject and 48 ng/L for the other. The pentagastrin-stimulated CT peak was above 30 ng/L in each of the patients presented here, and all were thyroidectomized. In screening the 25 relatives of patients with familial MTC, a CT peak level over 30 ng/L was constantly associated with C-cell disease (23 cases of MTC and 2 of C-cell hyperplasia). A response to pentagastrin above 100 ng/L was observed in 15 patients among the 23 with MTC. In 8 of the 10 patients with a peak CT level between 30-100 ng/L, pathological examination showed a MTC; the other 2 had C-cell hyperplasia and a negative linkage study analysis. In the 25 other patients in the study without familial MTC, the pentagastrin-stimulated CT level was over 100 ng/L in 11 of the 14 subjects with MTC. The abnormal CT response to pentagastrin, which has been used as a criterion for surgical treatment, is currently determined by an immunoradiometric assay. Our study confirms that subjects with a peak CT level above 100 ng/L should undergo surgery whatever the reason for the test. In the context of inherited MTC, our results suggest that for patients with a CT peak level between 30-100 ng/L, surgery may actually be postponed when their probability of being gene carriers is low. Recent progress with the characterization of specific mutations in affected individuals will make familial screening much easier in the next few months.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[Unusual association of somatostatin-secreting thyroid cancer and a calcitonin-secreting duodenal endocrine tumor. Is it an entity?].

We report a patient with a vesicular thyroid carcinoma secreting somatostatin and associated to an endocrine duodenal calcitonin secreting tumour. Increase of plasm somatostatin level induced an endocrine syndrome which completely resolved after thyroidectomy. By contrast, the digestive tumour remained asymptomatic. Six months after surgery, the course was marked by a relapse of the thyroid tumour along with pulmonary metastasis. At that time, pathological analysis showed only indifferentiated tumoural tissue.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Central action of 5-HT3 receptor ligands in the regulation of sleep-wakefulness and raphe neuronal activity in the rat.

Anxiolytic drugs, such as the benzodiazepines and the azapirones (ipsapirone, gepirone, buspirone), are well known to affect states of vigilance and to decrease the firing rate of serotoninergic neurones within the dorsal raphe nucleus in rats. In order to examine whether the newly developed 5-HT3 antagonists with potential anxiolytic properties act through similar mechanisms, the effects of several of such antagonists: MDL 72222, ICS 205-930, ondansetron and/or zacopride on both sleep-wakefulness and the discharge of serotoninergic neurones within the dorsal raphe nucleus were investigated in rats. When tested in a wide range of doses (0.05-10 mg/kg, i.p.), none of these drugs significantly affected the states of vigilance, except ondansetron, at 0.1 mg/kg, which increased paradoxical sleep for the first 2 hr after administration and MDL 72222, at 10 mg/kg, which reduced both paradoxical and slow wave sleep and increased wakefulness for the same initial period after treatment. In vivo, in chloral hydrate anaesthetized rats, as well as in vitro, in slices of brain stem, none of the 5-HT3 antagonists tested affected the firing rate of serotoninergic neurones. Similarly, no change in the electrical activity of serotoninergic neurones could be evoked in vitro by superfusion of the tissue with the 5-HT3 agonists, phenylbiguanide (10 microM) and 2-methyl-5-HT (1 microM). At a larger concentration (10 microM), the latter compound reduced the neuronal discharge probably through the stimulation of somatodendritic 5-HT1A autoreceptors since this effect, as that of ipsapirone, could be prevented by 10 microM l-propranolol. Comparison of these data with those obtained with benzodiazepines and 5-HT1A agonists of the azapirone series, supports the concept that different mechanisms are responsible for the anxiolytic-like properties of 5-HT3 agonists, compared to those of other anxiolytic drugs.

Animals↗