[Uterine and ovarian metastases 28 years after the discovery of breast cancer]. / Métastases utérines et ovariennes 28 ans après la survenue d'un cancer du sein.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer seldom leads to uterine metastases, but more frequently spreads to the ovaries. OBSERVATION: A 72 year-old woman treated 28 years earlier for a breast cancer (conservative treatment and ovarian castration through radiotherapy) presented with metrorrhagia. The hysteroscopy and uterine curettage were normal. Three months later she presented with bone pains and pain along the course of the femoral nerve. The clinical examination revealed the existence of left axillary and sub-clavicle adenopathies. A biopsy of the lymph nodes showed a lobular adenocarcinoma with positive hormonal receptors. The clinical and biological state of the patient improved under treatment with tamoxifen and aredia. Eight months later the patient complained of pelvic pains. The ultrasound examination showed a pelvic tumour situated at the fundus of an enlarged uterus, as well as peritoneal effusion. The patient underwent a total hysterectomy and multiple biopsies that revealed diffuse metastases of a lobular adenocarcinoma spreading to the neck and the body of the womb, the mesosalpinx, the left ovary and the epiploon. The patient died less than a year after the first symptoms had appeared. DISCUSSION: Uterine metastases of extrapelvic origin are rare. Breast cancer is the first cause of this dissemination. It is generally invasive, lobular, and frequently spreads to the ovaries. In the case reported here, what is remarkable is the exceptionally long period between the discovery of a breast cancer and the apparition of metastases. Hence, in order to detect a primary or secondary ovarian or uterine cancer, it is important to emphasize the necessity of systematic pelvic examination in patients treated for breast cancer.

[Spinal leptomeningeal tumor spread disclosing a pineocytoma]. / Essaimage tumour leptomeninge spinal révélateur d'un pineocytome.

A 39-year-old female was admitted to the hospital because of a sudden meningeal syndrome followed by diplopia, cervical, dorsal and sciatic nerve pains, and right peripheral facial palsy. Cerebrospinal fluid obtained by lumbar puncture showed a protein level at 23 g/l. Myelography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were in favor of a lumbar arachnoiditis. A meningeal biopsy revealed a tumour infiltration with foci of cells that were stained with anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein antibody. Cerebral MRI was performed to search for a central nervous system (CNS) primary tumour, and disclosed a pineal mass. Five months after the onset of the disease, the patient worsened her clinical state and died. Necropsy confirmed the presence of a pineocytoma with astrocytic differentiation and diffuse leptomeningeal spread. This exceptional occurrence leads us to discuss about primary tumours of the CNS with leptomeningeal spread.

Double monoclonal cryoglobulinemia, glomerulonephritis and lymphoma.

We present a case of monoclonal cryoglobulinemia with double monoclonal component IgA lambda-IgG lambda, without complement activation, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) with deposits of IgA, IgG and lambda chains and lymphocytic IgA-lambda-chain-secreting lymphoma. This case emphasizes the possibility that double monoclonal cryoglobulins could behave differently compared to type I cryoglobulins, determining a MPGN-like type II cryoglobulins do, but without activating the complement cascade.

[Diabetic glomerulopathy]. / La glomérulopathie diabétique.

Detecting a microalbuminuria in a diabetic patient is enough to diagnose a diabetic glomerulopathy (which is more properly termed diabetic nephropathy). To appreciate exactly means to know what are the lesions of mesangium matrix and interstitial tissue; therefore, a renal biopsy is useful, (but needs to be examined by quantitative histo-morphometry). Numerous factors facilitate the progression of renal insufficiency in these patients: high blood pressure, poor glycemie control, high protein diet. Avoiding each of these factors allows to delay the time of dialysis and renal transplantation. Now diabetics represent the large group of patients in renal replacement therapy world-wide. These therapies are twice to thrice as expensive as they are for non diabetic patients.

Thymolipoma in association with myasthenia gravis.

A 52-year-old male presented with an anterior mediastinal tumor associated with a 2-year history of myasthenia gravis. The patient underwent thymectomy and a 185-g, 10 X 8 X 3.5 cm, well-delineated tumor was resected. On histologic examination the tumor proved to be a thymolipoma composed of mature adipose elements containing cords and nests of thymic tissue. The latter consisted mainly of cortical areas, the thymocytes of which displayed an immunohistochemical profile of cortical cells, i.e., CD 1+, CD 4+, CD 8+, and frequently Ki 67+. Ultrastructural study confirmed the predominant cortical differentiation of the thymic component. No germinal centers, dendritic reticulum cells, or myoid cells were detected by histologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural studies. The association of thymolipoma with myasthenia gravis is rare; this case is the 10th reported. Our findings lead us to believe that (a) the cortical differentiation of the thymic component and the active thymocyte proliferation could represent a factor leading to myasthenia gravis; and (b) thymolipoma could be a peculiar form of thymoma rather than a mixed tumor of mesenchymal and entodermal origin, a lipoma, or a hamartoma of the thymic gland. The reported association of thymolipomas with other immune disturbances or with neoplastic conditions usually associated with true thymomas support these findings.