Congenital respiratory-esophageal fistula in the adult. Report of nine cases and review of the literature.

Congenital tracheoesophageal or bronchoesophageal fistulas, if not associated with esophageal atresia, may not appear initially until adult life. Nine such cases (two tracheoesophageal and seven bronchoesophageal) are reported. The chief presenting symptoms were recurrent bouts of coughing, after drinking, and hemoptysis.

Primary lung cancer in young patients: a study of 82 surgically treated patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognosis for surgically treated young patients with primary lung cancer, a prognosis generally considered to be very poor. Eighty-two patients less than 40 years of age were operated on at Marie-Lannelongue Hospital between 1982 and 1990. There were 72 male and 10 female patients.

The place for bilobectomy in bronchogenic carcinoma.

From 1978 to 1988, 148 bilobectomies (21 upper and middle and 127 lower and middle) were performed for bronchogenic carcinoma. A conservative procedure was mandatory in 29 patients in whom a pneumonectomy was not functionally feasible while bilobectomy was deliberately performed in 119 patients with near normal lung function. Overall mortality was 6% compared to 4% and 3%, respectively, following pneumonectomies and lobectomies.

The secretory granule peptides 7B2 and CCB are sensitive biochemical markers of neuro-endocrine bronchial tumours in man.

Objective: Bronchial tumours are the most frequent cause of the ectopic ACTH syndrome. Two types of tumours are classically responsible: the relatively benign carcinoids and the highly aggressive small cell carcinomas. Both have neuro-endocrine features and are thought to originate from the endocrine component of the bronchial tree.

Proopiomelanocortin gene expression in normal and tumoral human lung.

Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene expression is not restricted to the pituitary corticotroph cell, but also takes place in many normal and tumoral nonpituitary tissues. In contrast, the ectopic ACTH syndrome is a rare event. Because it is most often associated with lung tumors, we specifically studied this tissue, analyzing the different forms of POMC RNAs in normal specimens as well as in various types of tumors.