Who are the French plastic surgeons?

Based on data from the national advice of the Conseil National de l'Ordre des Médecins (French Medical Board), the author found 654 plastic surgeons in France and classified them into five categories, demonstrating the increasing proportion of females in this specialty.     

Hemorrhagic fevers: few clues after 25 years

There is a high prevalence of Ebola antibodies found in the Kenya population, related to geographical area and season, although the clinical disease was never found and the virus was not isolated. A field study was carried out in 7 hospitals in western Kenya, 1986 -1987 (including surveillance studies in suspect areas), to intensify collection and transport of samples, testing facilities, patient observation with record keeping and follow-up. This study involved 1109 admitted patients with fever and/or bleeding, 155 contacts of haemorrahagic fever antibody (Hfab) patients, and 916 people in suspect areas. Respectively 160,44 and 80 persons were found Hfab positive mainly to Ebola, using an indirect immunofluorescent assay. From 676 viral cultures no virus was isolated. A relationship between antibody titres and ecological factors, social habitat, age, sex or season was not found. The non-specificity of IF testing was demonstrated by: 1) the disagreement between the results of two reference laboratories; 2) the unpredictability of the titre conversation course; and 3) by proving a significant cross-reactivity with Borrelia burgdorferii antibodies, Plasmodium falcparum antibodies and Salmonella typhi antibodies. Renewed testing in 1995 of 90 positive sera (with low titres) showed 19 sera to be positive by Elisa (2 in Zaire, 1 in Sudan, 9 in Reston and 7 in Cote d'Ivoire) from which 4 were confirmed by IFI 2 in Reston and 2 in Cote d'Ivoire. These findings are more proof that non-human virulent strains of Filoviridae, especially Ebola virus, are around in Kenya.     

Physeal and epiphyseal extent of primary malignant bone tumors in childhood

Twenty-two patients with metaphyseal primary malignant bone tumors (17 osteosarcomas, 5 Ewing's tumors) occurring before closure of the growth plate were examined with plain radiographs and MRI in order to determine the physeal or epiphyseal extent of the tumor. Results were correlated with the pathologic examination. Transphyseal spread was pathologically proven in 13 cases (59%): 12 cases of osteosarcoma and 1 case of Ewing's tumor (70% and 20%, respectively). There was no significant relation between epiphyseal invasion, age of patient, length of tumor or, in the cases of osteosarcoma, response to chemotherapy. Plain radiographs showed epiphyseal involvement in 4 cases and there were 10 false negatives. MRI revealed epiphyseal involvement in all cases; there were no false positives or false negatives. T1-weighted images in coronal or sagittal planes appeared to be sufficient. These findings are very useful in planning surgical limb salvage procedures and stress the ineffectiveness of the barrier effect of the growth plate against tumor spread.     

Patterns of the coronary artery irrigation in the left ventricle

Summary Nowadays, the classifications of coronary arterial preponderance (Schlesinger, Baroldi, Gensini) do not provide the necessary information for a good systematization of coronary arterial irrigation. Based on segmental analysis (Selvester's method) an alternative classification of the arterial distribution of the left ventricle is presented. One thousand eighty ventricle segments corresponding to 90 human hearts (age range from 4 days to 94 years) are studied, using microdissection techniques. In order to obtain segmental arterial patterns, a cluster analysis was used. The alternative classification is based on the predominance of the segments irrigated by: the anterior interventricular artery (Type I; 31% of cases), the circumflex artery (Type II; 37% of cases), or a balance between both arteries (Type III; 32% of cases). Each group can be divided into two subgroups (A and B), according to the existence or not of a balance between the territories of anterior interventricular and circumflex arteries. This classification allows as a more realistic approach to the subject of arterial dominance, given that the left ventricle always presents a predominant irrigation from the anterior interventricular, the circumflex or both arteries.

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Essai de classification de l'irrigation artérielle coronaire du ventricule gauche

Résumé La classification en dominance artérielle coronaire, actuellement utilisée (Schlesinger, Baroldi, Gensini) ne donne pas toutes les informations nécessaires à une bonne systématisation de la distribution des artères coronaires. Nous présentons ici une classification alternative, basée sur la segmentation des parois du ventricule gauche à la manière de Selvester. 1080 segments ventriculaires gauches de 90 coeurs humains prélevés sur des sujets de 4 jours à 94 ans ont été analysés en utilisant les techniques de microdissection. La présente classification est basée sur — la prédominance de segments irrigués par l'artère interventriculaire antérieure (IVA) : type I, par l'artère circonflexe (CX) : type II, — ou sur l'existence d'un équilibre entre ces deux artères : type III. Le pourcentage de distribution de ces groupes est le suivant : type I : 31 % ; type II : 37 % ; type III : 32 %. Chacun de ces groupes peut-être divisé en deux sous-groupes A et B selon — la prédominance du nombre de segments irrigués exclusivement ou en partage par l'IVA, — ou l'existence d'un équilibre entre l'IVA et la CX. Cette classification permet une approche plus réaliste du problème de dominance artérielle, étant donné que le ventricule gauche est toujours irrigué en prédominance par l'IVA, par la CX ou à la fois par les deux.

     

Surgical management of isolated multiple ventricular septal defects. Logical approach in 130 cases.

From January 1980 through September 1990, 130 children underwent surgical closure of isolated multiple ventricular septal defects (mean age 14 +/- 18 months, mean weight 7.0 +/- 4.4 kg). Sixty-one were less than 1 year of age. Sixty-one children had pulmonary protection, 51 had pulmonary artery banding, and 10 had pulmonary valve stenosis. All other patients had severe pulmonary hypertension (mean systolic pressure 75.7 +/- 20.5 mm Hg and already disabling heart failure (New York Heart Association classes III and IV). The surgical management was based on the location of the defects and the ventricular dominance that were assessed preoperatively and intraoperatively. Midtrabecular ventricular septal defects were always centered by the moderator band and were therefore divided into low trabecular, midtrabecular, and high trabecular defects. The perimembranous septum was involved in 102 patients, the trabecular in 121, the inlet septum in 12, and the infundibular septum in 9. Fifty patients had the "Swiss cheese" form of the lesion. Closure of the ventricular septal defects included Dacron patch and mattress sutures. They were always first approached through a right atriotomy, which was sufficient for complete repair in 82 patients. In midtrabecular ventricular septal defects, section of the moderator band (n = 24) allowed closure of all the defects with a single Dacron patch. In 48 patients a right atriotomy and a right (n = 32) or left (n = 14) (particularly for low trabecular ventricular septal defects) or both right and left (n = 2) ventriculotomies were necessary to secure the repair. The hospital mortality rate was 7.7% (10 patients). The causes of deaths were residual ventricular septal defect (n = 5), pulmonary hypertension (n = 2), hypoplastic right ventricle (n = 1) and left ventricle (n = 1), and myocardial infarction (n = 1). Among eighteen survivors with residual ventricular septal defect, six were reoperated on; there were two deaths. A permanent pacemaker was necessary in four patients. Low trabecular ventricular septal defects and left ventriculotomy were significant risk factors for morbidity (death, residual ventricular septal defect), p less than 0.01. At 7 years of follow-up, 90% of survivors were in New York Heart Association class I. Actuarial survival and freedom from reoperation at 7 years were 89.6% and 87.5%, respectively.     

Non-infiltrating intraductal carcinoma of the breast (author's transl)]

Non-infiltrating intraductal carcinoma may be considered a type of "carcinoma in situ" of the breast. In a review of 47 cases diagnosed and treated at Gustave-Roussy Institute between 1956--1972, it appears that the early symptoms of this rare type of breast carcinoma (it occurs only in 2.4% of all breast cancers) were a bloody discharge (38%) or Paget's disease of the nipple (11%). The histological examination was of the utmost importance in these cases due to the diagnostic uncertainties between benign hyperplastic lesions and authentic carcinomas as well as between infiltrating carcinomas and strictly intraductal carcinomas. Frozen section was only accurate in 30% of cases. The high frequency of multicentric foci (76%) contrasted with the absence of lymph node involvment (none of the 23 cases in which at least one node was excised, showed lymph node metastases). Treatment was only of ablation of the whole mammary gland, except in 6 patients who had a tumorectomy, two of whom also received radiotherapy. Local recurrence occurred in 4 patients, 3 of whom had only tumorectomy. The contralateral breast was affected in 2 cases. No patient under follow-up died of cancer within 5 years. The peculiar and highly favorable course of non-infiltrating intraductal carcinoma calls for an adequate therapy which could later be followed by a plastic reconstructive surgery should the patient wish to have this procedure.     

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the medial prefrontal cortex in patients with deficit schizophrenia: preliminary report

OBJECTIVE: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to study medial prefrontal metabolic impairments in schizophrenic patients with the deficit syndrome. METHOD: The subjects were 22 schizophrenic patients categorized as deficit (N=5) or nondeficit (N=17) and 21 healthy subjects. (1)H-MRS was performed for the right and the left medial prefrontal cortex. RESULTS: The patients with the deficit syndrome had significantly lower ratios of N-acetylaspartate to creatine plus phosphocreatine than did the healthy subjects or nondeficit patients. CONCLUSIONS: As N-acetylaspartate levels could reflect neuronal density and/or viability, this finding suggests a neuronal loss in the medial prefrontal cortex of deficit patients.     

Lifestyle Determinants of Bone Mineral: A Comparison Between Prepubertal Asian- and Caucasian-Canadian Boys and Girls

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in lifestyle and morphometric factors that affect bone mineral and the attainment of peak bone mass in 168 healthy Asian (n = 58) and Caucasian (n = 110) Canadian, prepubertal girls and boys (mean age 8.9 ± 0.7) living in close geographical proximity. DXA (Hologic 4500) scans of the proximal femur (with regions), lumbar spine, and total body (TB) were acquired. We report areal bone mineral densities (aBMD g/cm²) at all sites and estimated volumetric density (νBMD, g/cm³) at the femoral neck. Dietary calcium, physical activity, and maturity were estimated by questionnaire. Of these prepubertal children, all of the boys and 89% of the girls were Tanner stage 1. A 2 × 2 ANOVA demonstrated no difference between ethnicities for height, weight, body fat, or bone mineral free lean mass. Asian children consumed significantly less dietary calcium (35%) on average and were significantly less active (15%) than their Caucasian counterparts (P < 0.001). There were significant ethnicity main effects for femoral neck bone mineral content (BMC) and αBMD (both P < 0.001) and significant sex by ethnicity interactions (P < 0.01). The Asian boys had significantly lower femoral neck BMC (11%), aBMD (8%), and νBMD (4.4%). At the femoral neck, BMFL mass, sex, and physical activity explained 37% of the total variance in aBMD (P < 0.05). In summary, this study demonstrated differences in modifiable lifestyle factors and femoral neck bone mineral between Asian and Caucasian boys. Received: 21 July 1998 / Accepted: 30 September 1999     

Iatrogenic dissection of the portal vein during TIPS procedure

Dissection of the portal vein is a rare entity which has been rarely described during transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. We report three cases of dissection during this procedure and their complications. One dissection was immediately treated with coaxial stents. The two others were complicated either by a thrombus or by a false aneurysm. In the first case a second parallel stent was used to treat this complication. The patient with the portal vein false aneurysm was transplanted 4 days after this diagnosis. Portal vein dissection in TIPS procedure appeared to be less rare than has been reported and must be considered as a potential cause of TIPS dysfunction. Received: 5 May 1999; Revised: 14 July 1999; Accepted: 14 July 1999     

Objective and subjective extrapyramidal side effects in schizophrenia: their relationships with negative and depressive symptoms

The aim of this study was to show that objective extrapyramidal symptoms (O-EPS) were strongly correlated to negative and depressive symptoms while subjective extrapyramidal symptoms (S-EPS) were not. Ninety-one schizophrenic patients were evaluated by the Extrapyramidal Symptoms Rating Scale (ESRS), Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). While significant correlations were found between O-EPS and SANS (r = 0.51; p < 0.001) and between O-EPS and MADRS (r = 0.26; p < 0.01), no significant relationship existed between S-EPS and SANS (r = 0.19) or MADRS (r = 0.19). Similar results regarding the relationships between EPS and SANS were found in stabilized and acute subgroups and in deficit and nondeficit subgroups. A stepwise multiple regression showed that 41% of the variance of the SANS scores was due to facial mask and bradykinesia, and that 17% of the variance of the MADRS scores was due to facial mask and akathisia. This study shows the interest of evaluating subjective parkinsonism symptoms over objective ones since they are less interrelated to other symptoms, in particular to negatives ones.