Hepatoma in pregnancy.

We present the third case of hepatoma in pregnancy to be reported in an African. Despite the high incidence of hepatoma in the male population, hepatoma complicating pregnancy is very rare in this environment. Death usually occurs within one year of onset of symptoms.

Pulmonary radiological findings in hepatoma.

Pulmonary radiological features of 27 patients with a diagnosis of hepatoma were reviewed and compared with 64 controls. Coin shadows, nodular, lymphangitic or hilar node metastases were observed in 50% of the hepatoma cases. Other radiological pulmonary findings in hepatoma included statistically significant elevation of the right hemidiaphragm, double contour of the diaphragmatic silhouette and discoid atelectasis.

Unfolding of the aorta (aortitis) associated with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Dilatation of the thoracic aorta was observed in a significant number of normotensive tuberculous patients below the age of 40 years. Histological examination in a selected number of patients showed a non-specific aortitis. It is suggested that aortitis is probably due to an auto-immune response related to pulmonary tuberculosis and that tuberculosis should be recognized as a common cause of unfolding of the aorta in the African.