Microdochectomy for single-duct discharge from the nipple

Microdochectomy has been the accepted treatment for single-duct nipple discharge. Review of 97 consecutive patients undergoing microdochectomy between 1980 and 1987 revealed a total of eight patients with ductal carcinoma in situ. All of these had pre-operative mammography, results of which were highly suspicious of malignancy in six patients. Tiny foci of ductal carcinoma in situ were found in the two patients with normal mammograms. We suggest an expectant policy in cases where the mammogram is normal, omitting routine microdochectomy.     

The plasminogen-activation system in ovarian tumors

We studied the plasminogen activation system in tumor tissue by measuring the antigen level of the 2 plasminogen activators, tissue-type (t-PA) and urokinase-type (U-PA) and their inhibitors, plasminogen-activator inhibitors type-1 (PAI-1) and type-2 (PAI-2) in the tissue extracts of 43 human benign and malignant ovarian tumors. U-PA levels were significantly higher in malignant than in benign tumors. In addition, U-PA antigen levels were higher in the metastatic tissue of advanced disease (FIGO stage III) than in the primary localized tumor (FIGO stage I/II). Also PAI-1 concentrations tended to be higher in malignant than in benign tumors, but this difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, t-PA levels were lower in metastatic than in non-metastatic tumors, whereas PAI-2 levels were unrelated to the stage of ovarian malignancy. These results were integrated in a plasminogen-activation-dependent malignancy index (U-PA × PAI-1/t-PA). This index distinguished the different groups of benign ovarian tumors, localized and metastatic ovarian carcinomas better than U-PA levels. It could be useful as a prognostic indicator in ovarian cancer © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Mechanism of electrolyte and water transport in the first 2 minutes of hypotonic water resorption

1.2 ml of water or 1.2-2.4 ml of 1/2-isotonic saline were injected into the duodenum of the unanaesthetized rat. Continuous measurements of conductivity and sodium concentration in whole blood, the last by means of ion-selective electrodes, and of protein and electrolyte concentration in a filtrate of portal vein blood were made. Whereas conductivity and sodium or electrolyte concentration dropped promptly and steeply, the drop of protein concentration (Cprot) was registered with a delay of 1.9 min. A quantitative comparison of the conductivity and sodium concentration curves, showing strictly synchronous courses, suggested that no hematocrit changes (these would have influenced conductivity) had taken place during the period of constancy of Cprot. In rats having thirsted for 36 h, Cprot did not fall during a period of 5-8 min in which they drank up to 5.5 ml of water, despite a great drop of electrolyte concentration. It is concluded that at the beginning of water absorption all the fluid absorbed is transported via the lymph ducts. A gradient of negative pressure from the interstitial tissues to the lymphatic system in the non-absorbing gut is proposed, an additional electrolyte secretory process being taken into consideration.