[Subvalvular aortic stenosis. Apropos of 3 cases].

The three cases reported here illustrate the most frequent varieties of infra-valvular congenital aortic stenosis secondary to a fixed obstacle: such as a thin membrane located a few millimeters under the aortic ring; such as a fibro-muscular membrane at some distance of the ring; such as an infra-aortic fibro-muscular tunnel. The clinical symptoms and evolutive risks are reviewed. Ultrasound cardiography enables to make an accurate diagnosis and evaluate the associated lesions.

[Arterial hypertension in black patients].

Arterial hypertension in blacks seems to present a few peculiarities in comparison to that of caucasians, whether it is from the epidemiological point of view: greater frequency of the disease, more severe prognosis; from the physiopathological point of view with especially a definite prevalence of HBP with low renin and inflation of the plasma volume and increased tendency to sodium retention, or finally from the therapeutic point of view, since randomized studies have demonstrated that black patients respond better to diuretics than to beta-blockers. Currently, it is impossible to explain these differences in a simple fashion: is it a genetic factor or, on the contrary, environmental factors? Perhaps the response lies between those two extremes.

[Clinical study of the action of dobutamine in acute cardiac insufficiency].

78 patients were treated with dobutamine for a severe episode of heart failure at a mean dose of 9.51 micrograms . kg-1 .