[Apical pleural fibrosis related to inhalation of asbestos fibers].

The involvement of the apical pleura is infrequent in diffuse pleural thickening secondary to asbestos exposure. Most often diffuse pleural thickening is accompanied by an obliteration of the costophrenic angle and the posterior and paraspinous pleural surfaces of the pleura are involved to the greatest extent. Unlike this typical form, we observed in five patients exposed to asbestos an apical pleural fibrosis, uni or bilateral, accompanied with lung retraction, hilar ascension and tracheal attraction.

[Epidemiology of malignant pleural mesothelioma in the Nantes-Saint Nazaire region. Course in 1956-1992].

The aim of this study was to estimate the evolution of the incidence of mesothelioma in the Loire-Atlantique department since 1956 and to register all the cases diagnosed between 1985 and 1992 and to complete the data of earlier studies carried out between 1956 and 1984. The cases were indexed from the files of the pathology department and also from demographic and occupational data concerning the patients which had been gathered retrospectively from an inquiry of patients attached either to private physicians or to a hospital service. From 1956 to 1984 there were 125 cases (119 men, 6 women) who had been diagnosed; 92 cases were registered between 1985 and 1992 (79 men and 13 women).

[Tracheal neurinoma simulating status asthmaticus in a child].

Background: Neurilemmoma is a benign tumor that is rarely located in the trachea. A neurilemmoma in the intrathoracic part of the trachea can mimic severe status asthmaticus.

Case Report: A 14 year-old girl was admitted because of persistent signs of status asthmaticus, despite bronchodilator therapy.

[Ultrasonographic aspect of asbestos infracostal pleural plates].

The echographic study of the sub-costal pleura of 20 patients with occupational exposure to asbestos fibers and exhibiting pleural calcifications and thickenings on the chest X-Ray, allowed us to define the main semeiologic aspects of this pleural disease: horizontal striation and echo-poor thickenings of the sub-pleural region and irregularities of the pulmonary surface generating Ring-Downs. Comparison of this group with 20 normal subjects quantified this pleural thickening (pleural plaques: 5.5 +/- 2.