Malignant schwannoma of the inferior dental nerve.

Malignant schwannomas of the oral cavity and especially inferior dental nerve tumours, are rare malignancies. Mostly arising de novo as solitary tumours, some cases have occurred in Von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis (25% of cases) or, as in the present report, at the time of a relapse by transformation of a benign schwannoma. Long survival is only observed in selected early diagnosed patients additionally treated by extended surgery.

Uterine metastases from primary breast-cancer - report of 2 cases.

The authors report on 2 cases of uterine dissemination from primary breast carcinoma. Special emphasis is made on this atypical site of metastases and on the necessity of a gynecological work-up in patients previously treated for breast cancer.

Influence of mastectomy techniques on estrogen and progesterone receptor analysis in carcinoma of the breast.

Gradual tumor tissue devascularization during mastectomy is thought to decrease estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR) receptor activity. To determine whether or not hormone receptor values could be influenced by different mastectomy techniques, 62 patients with carcinoma of the breast had a Tru-cut needle (Baxter Healthcare Corporation) biopsy (premastectomy sample) and underwent modified radical mastectomy (postmastectomy sample) either before (group 1, 40 patients) or after (group 2, 22 patients) axillary lymph node dissection. When the two surgical procedures were compared in 33 patients in whom it could be assessed, no significant tendency (p = 0.

[Malignant hemangioendothelioma of the thyroid. Pathologic study of a case].

The authors report a case of malignant tumor of the thyroid in a 79 years old woman with a long standing goiter for 20 years but who did not live in endemic mountainous goiter area. The right lobe of the thyroid was surgically removed in February 1992 because increasing in size. Pathologic diagnosis was non malignant cystic lesion.

[Insular carcinoma of the thyroid. Apropos of a case and review of the literature].

We present a new case report of "Insular" thyroid carcinoma. The first series was published, in 1984, by Carcangiu et al. The propensity for local recurrence and early distant metastases explains the poor prognosis of this carcinoma and demands aggressive therapy at the time of diagnosis.

[Primary and secondary carcinomas of the thyroid gland with systematic discovery. Apropos of hundred thyroid glands removed at autopsies and review of the literature].

One hundred thyroids from autopsies performed in a Cancer Center were sectioned at 4 mm intervals. Each slice was processed to obtain one or several sections for histologic examination. Five primary microcarcinomas and ten secondary clinically unknown carcinomas were found.

[The value of peritoneal cytology in invasive uterine cancers. Analysis of 80 cases].

When they analysed 80 cancers of the uterus, the authors showed how valuable it was both for diagnosis and prognosis to carry out cytological lavage of the peritoneum, particularly in cases of endometrial adenocarcinoma. The results of this study are compared with recent extracts appearing in the international literature. This technique makes it possible to identify groups of patients of high risk for recurrences in the pelvis and abdomen who would benefit from adjuvant therapies, demonstrating that this technique is applicable to the diagnosis of gynaecological cancers with intraperitoneal spread which have long been failed to be recognised.

[Thyroid function after thyroidectomy for benign goiter. 200 cases explored by ultrasensitive TSH].

Based on a retrospective study of a series of 200 thyroidectomies for benign goitre and a mean follow up period of 12 Months, the authors analysed post-operative thyroid function and correlated it with the degree of surgical excision (47 unilateral lobectomies, 91 classical subtotal bilateral lobectomies and 62 extended bilateral subtotal lobectomies). After a presentation of the results in comparison with data from the literature, the timing and threshold for the institution of replacement therapy are examined and the need for prolonged clinical and laboratory monitoring is also stressed. In terms of changes in laboratory criteria only monitoring of spontaneous changes in US TSH allows opotherapy to be avoided or conversely to accurately define the conditions for institution of definitive replacement therapy.

[Gastric teratoma in newborn children].

In neonates, teratomas infrequently involve the abdomen: among 51 known cases, 39 were gastric teratomas, which account for less than 2% of all germ cell tumors in the neonatal period. Associated malformations are minor, located in the region of the tumor, and apparently less frequent than in other sites. Malignancy is exceedingly rare (a single case) and well controlled as a result of the anti-tumor processes specific to the neonatal period.

[Thyroid microcarcinoma with a fatal outcome and 34 other unusually aggressive cases reported in the literature].

A follicular thyroid microcarcinoma was revealed by scapular metastases. Despite treatment, other metastases were the cause of death after a course of 14 years. In the medical literature there are at least thirty-four other examples of follicular or papillary carcinoma of less than 15 mm (previously called occult) that have either given rise to blood-born metastases or have been the cause of death.

[Extra-skeletal Ewing's sarcoma. A case report with detailed review of the literature].

Extra-skeletal Ewing's Sarcoma (EES): a clinico-pathological entity described in 1975 by L. Angervall and F.M.

[Hürthle cell tumor of the thyroid gland. Analysis of a series of 33 cases].

Hurthle cell or oxyphil cell tumours of the thyroid, which consist of large cells with eosinophilic granular cytoplasm, rich in mitochondria, have given rise to much controversy in recent years. Difficulty in histological diagnosis (benign or malignant), unexpected evolution, and the possibility of very late recurrence and metastasis occurring in cases which were previously labelled benign, characterise these ambiguous tumours. Their malignant forms are most often classified with vesicular cancers of the thyroid.

[Gastric metastases of cancer of the breast. Apropos of a case. Review of the literature].

Since they are rare and often latent, gastric metastases from breast cancer, principally lobular, are difficult to diagnose particularly at the isolated stage. The primitive and non specific nature of their symptomatology and the negativity of endoscopic biopsies should lead to early explorative laparotomy. Surgery is often palliative to reduce tumor load and seldom involves complete excision, and can only hope to obtain prolonged survival if followed by chemotherapy, hormone therapy or indeed radiotherapy.

[Primary or secondary malignant tumors of tonsillar cysts. Apropos of a case of occult papillary cancer of the thyroid disclosed by intracystic metastasis].

The development of a malignant process within a tonsillar cyst is controversial. This phenomenon is exceptionally rare, at present only three cases which have been compatible with anatomo-clinical diagnostic criteria have been clearly established. Based on an original case showing a secondary papillary thyroid cancer in a tonsillar cyst, the authors analyse, in the light of recent data from worldwide literature, the various stages in the diagnostic process in both primary and secondary malignant tumours.

[Sarcoma of the breast].

Reports of 4 personal cases of breast sarcomas (3 cases of cystosarcoma phyllodes and 1 angiosarcoma), the authors review the literature concerning these rare tumors which account for less than 1% of malignant tumors of the breast. Whilst the usual clinical picture is that of a large tumor deforming the breast with pseudo-inflammatory signs, sarcomas 1 to 3 cm in diameter were discovered and treated with good chances of recovery. The natural history of breast sarcomas is marked above all by the risk of hematogenic metastatic spread (30% of cases) whilst very few (5%) local recurrences are seen following surgical treatment by mastectomy.

[190 cancers of the thyroid with a follow-up of more than 5 years].

Outcome in 190 patients operated upon by first intention for thyroid cancer is analyzed after follow up over more than 5 years. No deaths due to cancer occurred in 57 cases of papillary cancer, but 7 cases presented pulmonary metastases, while the global-5-year survival rate in 63 cases of vesicular cancer (including 25% with preoperative metastases) was 60%. In the absence of preoperative metastases, ans if well differentiated forms are separated from moderately differentiated forms, the respective 5-year survivals were 88 and 45%.

[Secondary cardiac localizations in different cancers. Comparison of clinical, electrocardiographic and autopsy data. Apropos of 51 cases].

The authors have investigated 910 post-mortem examinations of different primary cancers. Fifty-one cases (5.6% of the autopsies) presented cancer lesions of the heart.

[Trophoblastic tumor of placental location or trophoblastic pseudotumor. Apropos of 2 cases. Review of the literature].

Two cases of trophoblastic tumor of placental site are reported, less than 30 such lesions being listed in the published literature. Identification of this tumor from among other trophoblastic lesions is facilitated by immunohistochemical and electron microscopy technics, and demonstration of histoprognostic and biologic criteria improves assessment of evolutory potential of this type of tumor and allows adaptation of therapy. Treatment at the localized stage requires early diagnosis and wide surgical excision, results of chemotherapy in metastatic forms being, inversely than with choriocarcinoma, very deceiving.

Characterization of cell types in human breast tumor primary cultures.

Primary cultures of cells from breast carcinomas were attempted in 74 cases. Growth was observed in 46 cases. Using immunochemical demonstration of keratin proteins (KER), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), three morphologically distinct cell populations were characterized and described.

[Intrathyroidal metastases of a nephroepithelioma. Reflections on 5 operated cases].

Out of 3,340 thyroidectomies (237 for cancer), the authors report 5 cases of thyroid metastases due to clear cell renal cancer. They emphasize the slow development of these metastases. Two cases were operated on 11 years after nephrectomy and one after 27 years.

[Giant cell lesions of the mandible: problems of differential diagnosis apropos of 3 cases of central giant cell reparative granuloma].

Three cases of central giant cell reparative granulomas of the mandible are reported. The first shows classic manifestations. The second illustrates the role of traumatism in the genesis of these lesions.