La Revue de médecine interne
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Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is routinely used by intensivists and emergency physicians for many years. Its interest is not arguable any more for these specialists, despite the large variety of diseases they care. Hospitalists and internists also should find some interest in POCUS, which convenience and wide range of indications responds well to the variety of their practice. However, it is still not widely used in internal medicine departments. ⋯ Pocket-sized ultrasound device could be used in internal medicine wards. However, its limited performance compared to more sophisticated echography limits the possible explorations and their reliability, which encourages caution and makes critical the question of the initial training of doctors and medical students.
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Incidence of malignant melanoma has been increasing since the 1980s. For loco-regional stages, surgery is still the best treatment. Melanoma has a high distant metastatic potential and prognosis of advanced stages was until recently very poor. ⋯ Overall survival is now 2 years or above, with hope for a cure in some cases. Unfortunately, the efficacy of these treatments is incomplete and many studies are underway to try to identify predictive biomarkers, and multiple combinations are being evaluated to increase response rates. The efficacy of these treatments has also been shown in the adjuvant setting in high-risk melanoma, they should be available shortly.