Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Fournel.
A case of thymoma associated with chronic lupus erythematosus is reported. The course of the lupus was parallel to that of the thymoma, with several successive relapses. Histologically, the thymoma became increasingly undifferentiated. Chemotherapy only resulted in a few months of remission.
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The authors report the case of a 40-year old woman who presented with a round tumour in the middle lobe of the right lung. Once removed, the tumour proved to be an intrapulmonary chemodectoma. Chemodectomas are tumours that are rarely present in the lung. Their pathogenesis is open to discussion. Their study by electron microscopy is interesting, as it shows grains of neurosecretion and provides additional information on the morphology of chemoreceptors.
Pulmonary arterio-venous shunts represent a rare cause of hypoxia in cirrhosis. We present two cases, the first was an alcoholic cirrhotic with anthracosilicosis. This patient rapidly developed a picture of significant hypoxaemia with a raised alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient. The presence of this shunt was confirmed by a scintigraphic analysis. A porto-pulmonary localisation was excluded by a changing angiographic picture. Death supervened after refractory hypoxaemia. Post mortem microangiographic studies confirmed the pulmonary nature of the shunt and its pre-capillary localisation. The second patient was alcoholic, with a compensated cirrhosis and developed severe hypoxaemia which progressed to death in less than two months, when he was being treated effectively with corticosteroids for a diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis confirmed histologically. The pulmonary localisation of the shunt was confirmed by an analysis of the angioscintigraphs. The different techniques for the investigation of intra-pulmonary shunt are discussed, as well as the patho-physiological mechanisms involved. The hormone levels measured (sex hormones, serotonin, prostaglandins, intestinal hormones) remained normal. The therapeutic trials tried out (oestrogen, CPD Choline, indomethacin) were ineffective.
A 44-year old female farmer and pigeon-breeder presented with paroxysmal attacks of dyspnoea caused by recurrent subglottic laryngeal oedema. The symptoms disappeared under corticosteroid therapy but returned after discharge from hospital. The avian origin of the disease, suggested by a strongly positive search for avian precipitins, was confirmed when the attacks ceased after antigen exclusion. A realistic inhalation challenge test performed on two occasions with pigeon's feathers and droppings as antigens resulted, within 15 minutes, in a 4-hour long attack of paroxysmal laryngeal dyspnoea. The dyspnoea was caused by subglottic laryngeal oedema visualized, 15 minutes after the inhalation, by pharyngeal and bronchial fibroscopy. Nasal manifestations have been reported in patients with hypersensitivity of the lung, but it seems that no case of subglottic oedema in pigeon-breeder's disease has yet been published.
We report a case of rapidly developing (subacute) post-traumatic mediastinal haematoma which initially suggested a malignant tumour of the thymus region. The lesion, discovered on the basis of non-specific signal symptoms 2 months after a mild chest injury, consisted of a voluminous tumour of the thymus region associated with pericardial effusion. At angiography, the mass proved to be extravascular. CT scans of the thorax showed that it surrounded, but did not compress, the mediastinal vessels. Surgery revealed an organized encysted haematoma of the thymus region that had ruptured into the pericardial cavity containing a blood collection. The possibility of an intracystic haemorrhage in a cystic tumour preexisting to the trauma is discussed, but a more likely diagnosis would be chronic haematoma, especially since a similar case independent of any injury has already been published.
Four patients with recent central deep vein thrombosis (pelvis-superior mediastinum) were treated by local low dose infusions of urokinase (500 to 1000 IU/kg/h for 6 to 9 hours) followed by plasminogen (20 to 30 microkatals/h for 2 to 3 hours) associated with simultaneous anticoagulation with heparin. The treatment was continued for 83 to 160 hours until control phlebography showed dissolution of the thrombus. There were no haemorrhagic complications despite the presence of a number of risk factors which contraindicated treatment by a systemic route. Fibrinogen and FDP levels did not alter significantly. This therapeutic approach is worth considering and should be integrated among the therapeutic options available for cases of central deep vein thrombosis.
The activities of various ammoniagenic, gluconeogenic, and glycolytic enzymes were measured in the renal cortex and also in the liver of rats made diabetic with streptozotocin. Five groups of animals were studied: normal, normoglycemic diabetic (insulin therapy), hyperglycemic, ketoacidotic, and ammonium chloride treated rats. Glutaminase I, glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase, malate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme, and lactate dehydrogenase were measured. Renal glutaminase I activity rose during ketoacidosis and ammonium chloride acidosis. Glutamate dehydrogenase in the kidney rose only in ammonium chloride treated animals. Glutamine synthetase showed no particular variation. PEPCK rose in diabetic hyperglycemic animals and more so during ketoacidosis and ammonium chloride acidosis. It also rose in the liver of the diabetic animals. Hexokinase activity in the kidney rose in diabetic insulin-treated normoglycemic rats and also during ketoacidosis. The same pattern was observed in the liver of these diabetic rats. Renal and hepatic phosphofructokinase activities were elevated in all groups of experimental animals. Fructose-1,6-diphosphatase and malate dehydrogenase did not vary significantly in the kidney and the liver. Malic enzyme was lower in the kidney and liver of the hyperglycemic diabetic animals and also in the liver of the ketoacidotic rats. Lactate dehydrogenase fell slightly in the liver of diabetic hyperglycemic and NH4Cl acidotic animals. The present study indicates that glutaminase I is associated with the first step of increased renal ammoniagenesis during ketoacidosis. PEPCK activity is influenced both by hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis, acidosis playing an additional role. Insulin appears to prevent renal gluconeogenesis and to favour glycolysis. The latter would seem to remain operative in hyperglycemic and ketoacidotic diabetic animals.
We report a new case of primary pulmonary mucormycosis. The radiographic evidence and anatomopathological facts demonstrate an intra-cavitary mycetoma of Fowler associated with a chronic pneumonia in the left basal segment. The patient was not immunosuppressed but had undergone a left upper lobectomy 25 years before. This appears to be the first case in which a serological study has confirmed the diagnosis.
The authors report a case of bilateral hilar lymphoma of sarcoid origin associated with a pleural effusion. With the exception of pneumothorax, the pleural manifestations in the course of sarcoidosis amount to 115 published cases, including 49 with histopathological proof enabling us to speak of a pleural sarcoidosis. When the histopathological diagnosis is missing, it is preferable to speak of sarcoidotic pleurisy: the aetiopathogenesis in this case is venous obstruction and/or lymphatic obstruction by sarcoid involved lymph nodes. Exceptionally, it could be due to heart failure due to the fibrotic stage of sarcoidosis or to an autonomous sarcoidotic myocarditis.
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This study investigated 22 patients with histologically proven primary bronchial carcinoids and in particular the relationship between assessment parameters and survival. In each patient, age, sex, smoking habits, mode of presentation, results of diagnostic investigations, methods of treatment and pathological examination of resected specimens were recorded. Follow-up was possible in all patients for at least 5 years. Patients with atypical carcinoids were 10 years older than patients with typical ones. Eleven patients were smokers, all the patients with atypical and 4 patients with typical carcinoid. The most common presenting mode was pneumonia. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy was diagnostic in 11 cases. The survival rate for patients with typical carcinoid was 100%, while it was 57% in patients with atypical carcinoids. Patients with limited disease had a survival of 100%, while in stage III/IV patients showed a lower survival rate (50%). In conclusion, carcinoid tumors of the lung are tumors showing a good prognosis. Five-year survival indicated a significant difference between typical and atypical carcinoids and between limited and extensive disease. A precise staging is recommended for a better treatment and follow-up.