La Revue de médecine interne
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Autologous bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of solid tumors in adults remains an uncommon therapeutic approach. The feasibility of such high-dose therapies is clearly proved, especially with the advent of hematopoietic growth factors and the rescue by the peripheral stem cells to reduce the duration of the chemotherapy-induced myeloid aplasia. The question is to exactly define the place of high-dose therapy in the land of solid tumors. ⋯ The results of previous studies are disappointing. Moreover, occult medullary micrometastases involvement is frequent, once again even in limited diseases. However new therapeutic associations, as the ICE regimen (IFM, Carboplatin, VP-16) delivered as single or tandem therapy, have to be studied, especially as early consolidation therapy for the treatment of limited small-cell lung carcinomas.
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Infections due to Yersinia enterocolitica are usually limited to the bowel. When infection is generalized, the role of iron overload and iron chelation has been discussed. We report the case of a 55 year-old patient with sideroblastic anemia who received repetitive transfusions and deferoxamine for 4 years and heme arginate for 2 months, and who was admitted in our institution for Yersinia enterocolitica sepsis. Treatment by third-generation cephalosporins and aminoglycosides has allowed favorable outcome.
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The collagen vascular diseases and vasculitis, in particular, are occasionally associated with chronic, relapsing lower extremity ulcerations. Different mechanisms can induce such ulcerations, and an understanding of the type of ulcerations is important in the differential diagnosis of patients with leg ulcerations in general, and management of these patients in particular. In this review, the authors analyze the various mechanisms of the leg ulcerations in these patients and their treatments: vasculitis, thrombosis, traumatisms, calcinosis, panniculitis, pyoderma gangrenosum, infections, and induced by treatments.
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Review Case Reports
[Sweet syndrome and Yersinia enterocolitica infection. 2 cases].
Sweet's syndrome is an acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis. Although it frequently appears as an idiopathic disorder, it may occur in association, often as presenting sign, with malignancy or more rarely with infections. We report two cases of Sweet's syndrome preceded by digestive infection due to Yersinia enterocolitica, affirmed by significant rises in serum antibody titers. ⋯ Sweet's syndrome is a rare complication of these infections. Treatment with systemic steroids, usually effective, can be replaced by antibiotics with apparently favorable results. The search of an infectious origin should be systematic in cases of Sweet's syndrome that appear to be idiopathic.
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Fifty-eight consecutive elderly patients (seven men and 51 women, mean age 84 +/- 6) admitted for congestive heart failure were prospectively investigated by doppler echocardiography in order to 1) define the prevalence of cardiac failure with normal left ventricular systolic function, 2) estimate the role of abnormalities of left ventricular filling (diastolic dysfunction), 3) evaluate echodoppler parameters for assessment of diastolic function: ratio of early peak on atrial peak of filling velocities (E/A), mitral deceleration time (MDT) and isovolumic relaxation time (IRT). Of the 58 patients, 32 (55%) had normal left ventricular systolic function and 26 (45%) had systolic dysfunction. ⋯ Sensitivity of clinical data being too low, doppler echocardiography is the easiest noninvasive technique for defining abnormalities of both left ventricular systolic and diastolic function. In the elderly, MDT and IRT are more sensitive parameters than E/A for the diagnosis of diastolic dysfunction.