Inflammatory carcinomas of the breast: a clinical, pathological, or a clinical and pathological definition?

Some controversy remains about the clinical or pathological definition of the different types of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and especially the diagnostic and prognostic value of dermal lymphatic involvement. Our purpose was to classify the different types of IBC for which diagnosis was confirmed intraoperatively and ascertain features allowing reliable diagnosis. We studied clinical findings, biological data, and treatment outcome in a series of 144 successive patients.

The effects of oral administration of progesterone for premature labor.

The potential tocolytic effect of natural progesterone administration on premature labor was investigated in a double-blind study. An oral progesterone formulation was used because its ability to increase both plasma and myometrial concentration of progesterone in pregnant women had been previously demonstrated. Furthermore, no commercial intravenous or intramuscular natural progesterone formulation is currently available in France.

[Surgery in utero on a two-headed monster. The value of echography].

A binovular triplet pregnancy with a normal fetus and bicephalic monster was diagnosed by ultrasound after 19 weeks of amenorrhoea. After selective amniocentesis and genetic studies the diagnosis led us to kill the double monster in utero by injecting hypertonic saline into its aorta. The healthy twin went on growing normally in the following weeks.

[Ovarian tumor biology].

The authors studied endocrine ovarian tumor secretions capable of causing a clinic and/or biological syndrome. The plasmatic hormonal determinations and the in-vitro incubation methods revealed that the mesenchymal tumors discharged a full range of steroidsid hormones. Their feminizing or masculinizing clinic aspects depend on each respective hormonal ratio and on the field where they are acting.