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.

[Carcinoembryonic antigen (C.E.A.). Its value in the care of malignant tumours of the ovary (author's transl)].

The authors report on 466 serial levels of carcinoembryonic antigens (C.E.A.

[Prostaglandins and benign mastopathies (author's transl)].

During both phases of their menstrual cycle, women who suffer from benign mastopathies evidence hormonal deficiency, which is total although of variable magnitude, as shown by oestradiol (E2) and progesterone (p) plasma levels. by contrast, these women show a concomitant and large rise of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) plasma level. An oestrogen directed PGE2 synthesis by the mammary epithelium is likely to occur.

Androblastoma: pre-, per- and post-operative steroid hormone and binding protein concentrations in peripheral plasma, cyst fluid and tumor vein.

A case-report of arrhenoblastoma is presented where the endocrine profile has been determined before, during and after removal of the tumor. Sex steroids, cortisol, corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG) and sex steroid binding protein (SBP) were measured in fluid from 2 cysts, tumor vein and peripheral plasma. Hormones were measures by specific RIAs after stepwise chromatography on celite support according to a new elution pattern allowing the resolution of 8 sex steroid in a single chromatographic system.

Benign breast disease: studies of prostaglandin E2, steroids, and thermographic effects of inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis.

Plasma levels of estradiol (E2), prostaglandin (PG)E2, and progesterone (P) were measured in both phases of the menstrual cycle in 22 women with benign mastopathies and in 5 normal women. In both phases of the cycle, PGE2 blood levels were significantly higher in patients with benign mastopathies than in normal women. In contrast, the plasma levels of both steroids were lower in patients than in controls.

[OEstradiol and progesterone steroid hormone receptors in cancer of the endometrium. The significance of the progesterone receptor (author's transl)].

It would seem that the satisfactory way for the clinician to orientate the treatment by hormones in cancers of the endometrium lies in the presence at the same time of oestrogen and progesterone receptors and in particular of the latter. This applies when treating cancers of the endometrium with hormones in a way that is directed by chemical determination of hormone susceptibility.

[Hormone receptors in fibroadenomas of the breast].

This study is about hormone receptivity carried out on 84 fibroadenomata of the breast. In displaying the intracellular receptors for oestradiol and progesterone it shows that hormone receptivity was maximum in benign conditions as they were starting in young women with a short clinical history and with most marked cellular density on anatomo-pathological examination. We compare our results with those that were obtained in cases of cancer of the breast and show in parallel the plasma steroid levels that were obtained in women with benign pathological conditions of the breast.

[Threatened premature labor. Account of our recent experience].

We have been using two products, one an alpha-blocker (Vadilex) and the other a beta-stimulating drug (Ritodrine) to treat cases with threatened premature labour. Our experience is with 93 women who were treated in a continuous series. The overall result of our treatment show that 72 per cent of the cases were treated successfully and 28 failed.