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S Belaich

Publications and source records attributed to S Belaich.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Bacillary angiomatosis].

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is a recently described infection usually found in patients with human immunodeficiency virus disease. BA is caused by a Gram-negative coccobacillus. This organism is primarily responsible for skin lesions of the pseudo-botryomycoma type or inflammatory nodules, but it also produces fever, degradation of the general condition and visceral lesions involving the lymph nodes, the liver, the spleen and the bones. Histology shows vascular proliferation with turgid endothelial cells and mostly neutrophilic inflammatory infiltrates. BA is susceptible to many antibiotics. The authors describe the history of the disease and its clinical and histological features, discuss its differential diagnosis and principally deal with the relationship between BA and cat-scratch disease and between BA and verruca peruana. They also present the molecular biology technique which enables a genotypic diagnosis of the disease to be made, replacing a deficient phenotype.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections

[Lympho-epithelial skin tumor. Case report with review of the literature and nosologic discussion].

The clinical and histological findings of a lymphoepithelial tumor of the skin are presented and compared to the 11 cases already published in the literature. This review permits to point out the main characteristics of this recently described tumor. In 10 of the 11 cases the tumor is located on the face. The diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma is most often evoked. The mean age is 40 and 9 of the 11 cases are women. The tumor histologically presented as an epithelial proliferation of basaloid cells with peculiar features: cyst-like cavities infiltrated by mononuclear cells, histiocytic and lymphocytic cells; marks of pilosebaceous differentiation: curling of epithelial cells, areas of keratinisation, large clear cells of sebaceous aspect. The origin of this tumor is discussed and the hypothesis are oriented towards a rare histological form of basal cells carcinoma or a hair adnexial tumor. New cases would provide more informations to specify the nosological place of this tumor.

Adult

[Erysipelas: epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic data (111 cases)].

A retrospective study of 111 patients admitted to the Dermatology department of the Bichat hospital, Paris, between 1981 and 1988 for treatment of erysipelas revealed the following data: 1. Erysipelas was located on the lower limbs in 88.3 p. 100 of the cases and on the face in only 9.8 p. 100. 2. Facilitating and/or aggravating factors were: portal of entry in 75 p. 100 of the cases; impairment of venous and lymphatic circulations (41 p. 100); diabetes mellitus (13.5 p. 100); alcoholism and its socio-economic consequences (29 p. 100); unnecessary prescription of anti-inflammatory agents (11 p. 100). 3. Insufficient consideration was given to the clinical diagnosis: in 7.2 p. 100 of the patients erysipelas was diagnosed either after failure of heparin therapy or because phlebography was normal; some clinical features, notably bullae (30 p. 100) or purpura on the lower limbs (13 p. 100), confused the physicians. Delayed treatment was the main cause of local complications, such as abscess (4 cases) or focal cutaneous necrosis (4 cases). Erysipelas was recurrent in 23.5 p. 100 of the patients. 4. Bacteriological data in this series were insufficient to establish percentages of responsible organisms. However, penicillin G in mean doses of 12 million units per day administered intravenously for 5.5 days, then intramuscularly for 10 days was effective as first-line treatment in 80 p. 100 of the cases. Penicillin therapy may fail in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes or belated treatment with complications. No thromboembolic complication was observed (89 p. 100 of patients with lower limb erysipelas had received anticoagulants). There was only one death due to a severe underlying condition.

Administration, Oral

Porphyria cutanea tarda and scleroderma--chance association or related disease: a case report.

The concurrence of systemic scleroderma and porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) seems very rare. Only six cases have been reported to our knowledge. On the other hand, cutaneous sclerodermatous lesions in PCT occur more frequently and can affect 1.8-18% of cases. These observations raise the problem of a possible physiopathological relation between scleroderma and PCT. In fact, Grossman and colleagues have found anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) in 38% of patients so tested. In the present report, the association of systemic scleroderma and PCT with Sjögren's syndrome and anti-RNP antibodies raises further questions concerning the relationship between PCT and auto-immune diseases.

Aged

Comparative effects of loratadine and terfenadine in the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria.

Loratadine is a new selective peripheral histamine H1-receptor antagonist, that is orally effective, long-acting, and devoid of significant central and autonomic nervous system activity. Its safety and efficacy were evaluated in a 28-day study conducted in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (loratadine, 10 mg OD; terfenadine, 60 mg BID; or placebo). Evaluation of efficacy included weekly assessments of the individual disease signs and symptoms, the overall disease condition, and therapeutic response to treatment. Throughout the 28-day treatment period progressive improvement was observed in the loratadine and terfenadine treatment groups; however, at each evaluation, loratadine was significantly more effective than placebo (P less than .01) and clinically more effective than terfenadine in reducing disease signs and symptoms. Terfenadine was significantly more effective than placebo at day 7 and endpoint (last valid visit). The overall therapeutic response at the endpoint of treatment was rated as marked or complete relief of symptoms in 64%, 52%, and 25% of the patients in the loratadine, terfenadine, and placebo treatment groups, respectively. Loratadine was well tolerated and comparable to terfenadine and placebo in incidence of adverse experiences. Sedation was reported in one patient each in the terfenadine and placebo treatment groups and an anticholinergic side effect (dry mouth) in one terfenadine-treated patient. No sedative or anticholinergic side effects were observed in patients receiving loratadine. We concluded that loratadine, 10 mg, once daily is a safe and effective treatment for symptomatic relief of chronic idiopathic urticaria.

Adolescent

[The association of neuro-endocrine carcinoma of the skin and Bowen's disease. Review of the literature apropos of 4 cases].

Four cases of neuroendocrine carcinoma following Bowen's disease are presented. An immunohistochemical study was performed. The four patients, 3 men and a woman, ranging from seventy to eighty-seven years of age, developed a nodular tumor on a preexisting cutaneous lesion. In one of those cases the diagnosis of Bowen's disease was confirmed histologically before the apparition of the nodular tumor. The tumors were localized on the scalp, thorax, dorsum of the hand, and the scrotum. The four tumors were immunohistologically typical of neuro-endocrine carcinoma: there was a positivity for neurofilaments, cytokeratins and neurone-specific enolase. The clinico-pathological characteristics of those 4 neuro-endocrine carcinomas associated with a Bowen's disease, when compared with the 15 similar described in the literature, are identical to the isolated neuroendocrine carcinoma, from a clinical, morphological and evolutional point of view. The majority are seen in patients older than 60 years old and one third of the cases described survived at least 5 years. The coexistence of Bowen's disease and neuroendocrine carcinoma, the association of neuroendocrine and epidermoid cells in other cutaneous tumors, reactivate the controversy concerning the histogenesis of the so-called Merkel cell carcinoma. In fact, the histogenesis of the tumor is still not fully understood.

Aged

[A case of malignant melanoma expressing epithelial cell markers in immunohistochemistry using paraffin sections].

Recently, applications of immunohistochemical techniques for the cytoplasmic localization of intermediate filaments has produced advances in tumor diagnosis and characterization. We report a 58-year-old white male with a clinically and histologically typical metastatic malignant melanoma. This case was peculiar because the same neoplastic cells stained for both S-100 protein and keratin on paraffin embedded tissue. These facts illustrate how cautiously we must interpret the positivity of immunohistochemical technics. We thus insist on the importance of the clinical and basic histologic data for the diagnosis, in order to avoid errors.

Biomarkers, Tumor