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Biomedical subjects

J Cabane

Publications and source records attributed to J Cabane.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

[A case of purpura, or the return to natural diseases].

With reference to a case of vitamin C deficiency in a strict vegetarian, the authors recall the clinical findings and current diagnostic procedures in scurvy. Serum and urine ascorbic acid assays are now available and established the diagnosis. Management rests upon vitamin C given in a curative dosage of 1 to 2 g per day for 15 days followed by a preventive dosage of 10 mg per day.

Adult↗

[Inferior caval syndromes. Apropos of 45 cases].

The authors report their experience with 45 cases of inferior vena cava thrombosis. Diagnosis was delayed for an average of 55 days. One-third of cases were revealed by an embolic complication. Inflammatory diseases were the most common causes (Behcet disease: seven cases, systemic lupus erythematosus: 5 cases). Malignancies accounted for 20% of cases. Abnormalities of coagulation were uncommon: antithrombin III deficiency in one patient and protein C deficiency in another. Estrogen-progestogen combinations could be incriminated in 4 cases. Outcome was fatal in 20% of cases, usually as a result of the underlying disease. Functional status was good in two-thirds of patients without malignancy followed up for an average of 27 months. In 14 patients a clip was inserted to ensure total (3 cases) or partial (11 cases) interruption of vena cava blood flow because of a free thrombus and/or recurrent pulmonary embolism. Three patients had thrombectomy. After clip insertion two embolisms were recorded, one of which occurred in the immediate post-operative period.

Adolescent↗

[Treatment of human brucellosis with rifampicin].

Rifampin, which exhibits good intracellular diffusion and in vitro bactericidal activity on brucella, is effective in experimental brucellosis in mice, without selection of resistant strains. It was therefore legitimate to use rifampin in man since conventional treatment of acute brucellosis is followed by recurrence in 15% (tetracycline alone) or 3.7% (streptomycin-tetracycline combination) of cases. Rifampin was given to 13 patients with brucellosis (acute brucellosis in 8, osteoarticular brucellosis in 3 and chronic brucellosis in 2). Rifampin was given as sole therapy in a daily dosage of 600 to 1 200 mg. A tetracycline was subsequently needed in three cases, in combination with rifampin in two, and as replacement therapy in one. Treatment lasted 20 to 60 days in acute brucellosis and 2 to 15 months in other forms. Only one failure was recorded among the 11 cases of acute or localized brucellosis. Conversely, effectiveness of rifampin proved incomplete (1 case) or null (1 case) in chronic forms. The satisfactory effectiveness of rifampin is confirmed by a review of the literature which found 17 reports addressing the subject. These include 324 cases of brucellosis treated by rifampin, as sole therapy in 255 patients, with only 24 failures ascribable to faulty dosage. Indeed, rifampin must be given for at least 30 days, in a minimal daily dosage of 600 mg or 10 mg per kg, in a single dose. Cotrimoxazole is an antagonist and should not be associated with rifampin. Conversely, tetracyclines are synergistic and their association, which is useless in acute brucellosis, is helpful in localized and chronic forms.

Acute Disease↗

[Periungual capillaroscopic aspects in Behçet's disease. Apropos of 30 cases].

Nailed capillaroscopy was systematically performed in 30 patients with Behcet's disease to search capillary dystrophies with paradoxal normal number of capillary loops; some indirect signs of microvascular disease were noted: pallor of the background; petechiae; sludge; abnormal visibility of the venous plexus and of irregularly arranged venules. Eight patients had a normal capillaroscopy: thirteen had direct signs of microvalvular abnormalities (nine cases with two direct signs and at least two indirect signs; and four cases with two direct and one indirect, or one direct and three indirect signs). Nine patients had only sludge and/or petechiae. We never observed any abnormality in the number of the capillaries, in the sweat droplets nor in the circulatory speed. Two patients had megacapillaries resembling those seen in scleroderma. The petechiae were observed in 50 p. 100 of the cases. We found no correlation between the capillaroscopic abnormalities and the age, sex, duration of the disease, or ethnic background. However, the presence of aphthosis the day of the capillaroscopy seems to be correlated with the cutaneous microvascular abnormalities. Thus, there exist frequent capillaroscopic abnormalities in Behcet's disease. Although aspecific, they point out the vascular tropism of this disease, resembling that of the vascularite. The prognostic importance of the capillaroscopy in Behcet's disease is under study.

Adult↗

[Splenic involvement in infectious endocarditis. 5 clinical cases and 78 necropsies].

Splenic involvement is a classical complication of infective endocarditis (IE). Clinical manifestations are rare, 5 out of 100 IE: unexpected rupture (1 case), abscess causing reinfection (2 cases), pseudo-tumour (1 case) and terminal infarction (1 case). In addition to a review of the literature, a post mortem histological study of the spleen of 78 cases of IE was undertaken. Splenic involvement did not seem to be the direct cause of death. Three types of lesions which may or may not be associated were observed: congestive inflammatory lesions, infarction (48 p. 100), abscess (6 p. 100). Splenic infarction usually results in scarring but may progress to abscess formation. Rupture was not observed in this autopsy series. Although splenic involvement is common at post mortem it gives rise to few symptoms. Persistant pyrexia and the appearance of local signs should lead to investigation of splenic complications and eventually, to surgical ablation.

Adolescent↗

[Hypothalamic form of Whipple's disease. Favorable effect of rifampicin].

An unusual case of Whipple's disease is reported. The diagnosis was difficult as the characteristic digestive sign and symptoms (malabsorption, diarrhea, mucosal infiltration by PAS-positive macrophages) were absent. After a ten-year history of seronegative arthritis, myocardiopathy, with aortic insufficiency, basilar pulmonary infiltrates, enlarged lymph nodes, the patient, a 56 years old man, was referred to us for a severe vegetative and neurological dysfunction: stupor, dysarthria, akinesia, hypertonia, hypothermia and abnormal thirst. A CT-scan showed a low-density area of the right hypothalamus, and PAS-positive macrophages were found in a lymph node, in the CSF and in a cerebral biopsy. The patient then received a classical antibiotic treatment, yet the neurologic dysfunction remained severe. Finally, a trial with rifampicin brought a striking improvement of the patient's condition, which has now lasted for three years.

Humans↗

[Lethal midline granuloma of unknown cause: 6 new cases and review of the literature].

The term of "lethal midline granuloma" has been used to apply to a number of diseases. In this paper, it is argued that this term should be only a clinical description of a relentlessly progressive destructive lesion of the nose and face. A list of all the possible causes is presented. There is a group of patients who do not correspond to any specific etiology. Reviewing the observations in the literature and our own, we think that such cases are best classified according to their histological appearance. Those without atypical cells (20% of cases) are always localized to the upper respiratory tract, while those with atypical cells (histiocytes?), 80% of cases, may become generalized and/or may evolve to a malignant lymphoma. When localized, both forms (with and without atypical cells) respond very well to high-dose radiation therapy (40 to 60 Gy). In disseminated forms or relapses following radiotherapy treatment, chemotherapy, the only available alternative treatment, has met with little success. We present the clinical and pathological features of six such patients, of whom one had no atypical cells. Radiotherapy produced a clinical remission in five of five cases, but of shorter duration than that reported in the literature. No treatment other than radiotherapy has yet proven to be regularly efficient in this rare and mutilating disease.

Adult↗