[Functional imaging of the auditory cortex: role of magnetoencephalography].

We present the different methods for detecting cerebral activity in the auditory cortex. Positron emission tomography (PET) and functional MRI (fMRI) measure such activity indirectly by calculating the blood flow rate or the consumption of oxygen. The direct methods of detection record the electrical or magnetic activity by eletroencephalography (EEG), or magnetoencephalography (MEG), respectively.

Beware of dogs licking ears.

A patient with right-sided chronic purulent otorrhoea developed meningitis due to Pasteurella multocida transmitted by a dog that frequently licked his ear. We suggest that patients with a perforated tympanic membrane should avoid being licked on their ears by animals.

Sensitivity of auditory brainstem response in acoustic neuroma screening.

Auditory brainstem response (ABR) is the reference screening technique for acoustic neuromas, but because of a few false negatives and the increasing performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), its role as the standard method has been questioned. We assessed sensitivity of screening tests in 89 patients with surgically proven acoustic neuromas. Sensitivity of ABR was 92%; 94% for extracanalicular neuromas and 77% for intracanalicular neuromas.

[Extemporaneous anatomo-pathological test in surgery of thyroid cancers. Values and limitations].

We report our experience in surgical treatment of thyroid cancer; 2470 total or partial thyroidectomies were performed for a thyroid nodule, 205 were primitive thyroid carcinoma (8.3%). Intraoperative frozen sections diagnoses were performed in 100% of the patients.

[Diving goiter. Apropos of 139 cases].

Between 1976 and 1994, 139 cases of diving goiter were operated. Hyperthyroidism is a factor in compression. Morbidity is low for surgery for diving goiters, but increases if performed in emergency situations.

Tracheobronchography and balloon dilatation in acquired neonatal tracheal stenosis.

Between 1988 and 1992, 18 mechanically ventilated newborn babies (mean weight 1300 g and gestational age 30 weeks) presented with deteriorating respiratory failure at a mean age of 29 days. All developed increased oxygen requirements, hypoxic and hypercapnic episodes, and radiological changes of fixed lobar emphysema or recurrent atelectasis which sometimes changed sides from one day to another. Tracheobronchography with iopydol-iopydone was normal in five (27%) cases, but in 13 showed tracheobronchial stenosis localised to the lower trachea (seven cases), to the right main bronchus (three cases), or including the left main bronchus (four cases).

[Malformation of the internal ear and recurrent meningitis: radio-surgical correlations].

Authors report one case of bilateral inner ear malformation in a 3 years-old child with congenital sensorineural hearing loss, recurrent meningitis and cerebro-spinal fluid leakage. This anomaly is a pseudo-Mondini's malformation with a meningocele through the oval window and a fistula of C.S.

[Value of ultrasonography in the detection of metastatic cervical lymph nodes].

A prospective study of 18 consecutive patients with carcinoma of upper respiratory and digestive tracts is presented. The authors describe the lymph node involvement in these cases. Preoperative ultrasound exploration of the cervical node regions was performed and US findings were compared with obtain by physical examination.

Hormonal study of a human mixed follicular and medullary thyroid carcinoma.

We studied the hormonal secretion of a human mixed follicular and medullary carcinoma. Thyroglobulin (Tg) secretion, especially by large cells and sometimes by small ones, was visualized with immunoenzymatic staining. Calcitonin (CT) was produced by small spindle-shaped cells.

[Cell culture in thyroid cancers].

The authors studied the diagnostic interest of cell cultures in thyroid tumors. They cultivated 10 tumours (4 papillary carcinomas, 5 medullary carcinomas and 1 sarcoma-looking tumour). In 7 cases, cultures yielded nothing more than pathologic examination.

[Fistula of the 4th endo-branchial pouch. Apropos of 4 cases].

The congenital fistula of the piriform sinus is a rare, often overlooked, malformation originating in the branchial pouch. More than 70 observations have been reported in the literature. The authors describe four new cases of documented fistula of the fourth endobrachial pouch.

[Acquired tracheobronchial stenosis of the premature infant under artificial respiration. Value of bronchography and endoscopic balloon dilatation. Apropos of 7 cases].

The authors report about a series of 7 cases of acquired tracheobronchial stenosis in premature infants who were intubated as soon as they were born and ventilated. Two important points can be pointed out: the merits of bedside bronchography, which allows diagnosing the lesions, the merits of balloon dilatation during tracheobronchoscopy on the ENT operating theatre to treat the stenosis. This technique allowed improving ventilation and removing the tube in 6 of 7 cases.

[Use of cultures of human thyroid cells in physiopathology and pharmacotoxicology].

We reconstituted functional follicles from isolated cells, after embedding in a collagen matrix. Therefore we could carry out many investigations. We showed that the cells embedded in collagen reorganized into functional follicles secreting thyroglobulin (Tg) visualised in the intra-follicular compartment, and triiodothyronine (T3) after TSH stimulation.

[Intrinsic congenital stenoses of the trachea].

The authors report about one case of intrinsic congenital stenosis of the trachea in a newborn. The prognosis of tracheal stenosis in infants is poor, more so when it is congenital and intrinsic, because it is often extensive and associated with other malformations, especially of the right mainstem bronchus and of the right lung. The prognosis of such extensive stenoses, for which surgery constantly resulted in death, has been improved by a new type of tracheoplasty (Kimura-Tsugawa, 1982).

[Exchanges of medical students from Rennes/Erlangen-Nuremberg: various considerations on these exchanges within the E.E.C. framework].

The current political trends of the European Economic Community (EEC) have made it more desirable than ever before for medical students to be able carry out part of their training in medical schools other than their Faculties of origin. The authors examine successively: 1) The results of 20 years of twinning-between the Medical Schools of Rennes (France) and Nürnberg-Erlangen (W. Germany).

[The value of pharyngo-esophageal manometry in the study of deglutition disorders].

Pharyngoesophageal manometry is an excellent tool for the study of pharyngeal swallowing disorders, and allows quantifying the various anomalies. The comparison of pre- and postoperative results allows better differentiation of the indications for myotomy or myectomy of the cricopharyngeal muscle. On the basis of a series of 10 cases with sufficient distance in time, the operation can be regarded as even more beneficial as the manometric anomalies are confined to the sole upper esophageal sphincter.

[Post-traumatic infections of the frontal sinus].

Post-traumatic infectious complications of the frontal sinus occur more frequently after multiple fractures than after isolated fractures. The greatest frequency is found with open traumas of the sinus, due to the presence of foreign bodies and to bone and mucosal destruction. Such infectious complications are curatively treated both medically and surgically, to eliminate the bony and mucosal infection and to restore the normal physiology of the frontal sinus.

[Oto-palato-digital type I syndrome in five generations. Relationship to the type II form].

Three cases of oto-palato-digital syndrome (OPD) are described. They are from the same family, in which the syndrome is an X linked recessive disorder, transmitted through five generations. These cases are classified rather in the OPD type I.

[Results of a multicenter study of an amoxicillin-clavulanic acid combination in sinusitis in children and adults].

Efficacy and safety of Augmentin were evaluated in 79 patients, 64 adults and 15 children, treated for sinusitis during a multicentric hospital trial. Pre-treatment meatal pus samples were examined for bacteriology: 37 of 39 strains (95%) isolated from adults were sensitive to Augmentin, and two beta-lactamase producing Haemophilus strains sensitive to Augmentin were isolated from the children. Adult dosage was usually 2 g per day as two divided doses over 8 to 10 days.