[Evolution of patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with immunosuppressive agents between 1965 and 1973].

The authors report the results of a study of 139 of their patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis, treated with chlorambucil of cyclophosphamide between 1965 and December 1973, with an observation period of 4 to 12 years. 8 patients were lost to follow-up, 38 died and 93 were reexamined. In this series 7 deaths were attributed to hemolymphoreticulopathy of various cytological types; 6 deaths were due to visceral cancer and 2 others to cancer of the tonsils.

[Spinal chrodoma - III. Review of the literature since 1960].

Vertebral chordomas develop from the intrarachidial -- and more often the intrasomatic --vestiges of the embryonic notochord, and are rare caancers that are more likely to become manifest, usually between 30 and 40 years of age, with a painful radiculo-medullary syndrome than with the clear signs of a tumour. The insidious evolution of this type of cancer, which gives rise to few metastases, and its ambiguous radiological appearance explain why it is usually diagnosed late after an anatomo-pathological examination. The fundamental histological element is the physaliphorous cell, ultrastructural studies of which have demonstrated that the large "mucous" inclusions of interstitial material.