Book Reviews

Consuming Passions: Feminist Approaches to Weight Preoccupation and Eating Disorders, edited by Catrina Brown and Karin Jasper. Toronto: Second Story Press, 1993, 459 pages, $16.95 paperback.

Binge Eating: Nature, Assessment, and Treatment, by Christopher G. Fairburn & G. Terrence Wilson. New York: Guilford Press, 1993, 420 pages, $40.00     

Prolonged deterioration of ischemic brain energy metabolism and acidosis associated with hyperglycemia: human cerebral infarction studied by serial 31P NMR spectroscopy

We report on a patient with a large ischemic hemispherical stroke studied serially by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Persistent hyperglycemia was associated with prolonged acidosis in ischemic brain and failure of high-energy phosphate metabolism to recover. These in vivo human data support the concept that hyperglycemia adversely affects ischemic brain metabolism, pH, and clinical outcome.     

The road to the discovery of the p53 protein: The Steiner Cancer Prize Award Lecture

Linxian, China has some of the highest rates of esophageal/gastric cardia cancer in the world. In 1983, esophageal balloon cytology screening was performed in 3 communes in northern Linxian. Of the participants, 10,066 with no evidence of cancer were followed prospectively for 71/2 years to evaluate the ability of the initial cytologc diagnoses to identify individuals at increased risk for developing cancer of the esophagus or gastric cardia. A total of 747 incident cases of esophageal or cardia cancer and 322 deaths due to these tumors were identified during the follow-up period and used in this analysis. The risks for esophageal or cardia cancer incidence and mortality increased in parallel with the presumed severity of the 1983 Chinese cytologic diagnoses. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, relative risks for esophageal or cardia cancer incidence, by initial cytologic diagnosis, were normal = 1.00 (reference), hyperplasia = 1.25, dysplasia 1 = 2.20, dysplasia 2 = 4.22 and near-cancer = 5.96. Our results suggest that esophageal balloon cytology, as performed and interpreted in Linxian in 1983, successfully identified individuals at increased risk for developing cancer of the esophagus or gastric cardia. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Gastric ulceration caused by heater probe coagulation

A double-contrast upper gastrointestinal examination on a woman who had undergone endoscopic heater probe therapy one day earlier for multiple arteriovenous malformations revealed shallow, irregular, and linear ulcers at the sites of heater probe coagulation. Multiple shallow ulcers may therefore develop as a direct complication of heater probe therapy. Radiologists should be aware of this complication to avoid diagnostic confusion in these patients.     

An approach to the diagnosis of pulmonary infections in immunosuppressed patients.

The goal of this review is to provide an approach to the diagnosis of pulmonary infections in immunosuppressed patients. First, a framework will be provided to narrow the extensive list of possible infectious and noninfectious pulmonary complications. This can be accomplished by considering the underlying immune defect, the pattern of radiographic presentation, the rapidity of progression of radiographic infiltrates, the typical temporal pattern of infection in specific disease states, and the local epidemiology at one's institution. Next, the yields and potential complications of invasive and noninvasive diagnostic techniques for pulmonary infections are reviewed. Lastly, algorithms, which account for the pattern of radiographic presentation, the primary disease and its underlying immune defect and the anticipated yields and complications of diagnostic procedures, are provided as a suggested plan for the use of diagnostic techniques and the institution of therapy.     

Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma. An aggressive neoplasm derived from schneiderian epithelium and distinct from olfactory neuroblastoma

Eight cases of a highly aggressive undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses are described. The patients, who ranged in age from 30-77 years, had multiple sinonasal symptoms, and each had involvement of the nasal cavity, maxillary antrum, and ethmoid sinus. Six tumors extended into the orbital bones, and five penetrated the cranial cavity. Five patients died of disease from 1 to 41 months after diagnosis (median: 4 months), and three are alive with tumor less than 1 year following diagnosis. Microscopically, the neoplasms formed nests, trabeculae, and sheets containing medium-sized cells with small to moderate amounts of eosinophilic cytoplasm. A high mitotic rate, tumor necrosis, and prominent vascular permeation were characteristic. Seven neoplasms were immunoreactive for cytokeratin, five for epithelial membrane antigen, and four for neuron-specific enolase. Ultrastructurally, occasional small desmosomes and rare membrane-bound, dense-core granules were observed. Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma is a distinctive clinicopathologic entity that must be distinguished from other, less aggressive sinonasal neoplasms.