[A 47-year-old patient with paroxysmal arterial hypertension and gastric tumors]. / 47-jährige Patientin mit paroxysmaler arterieller Hypertonie und gastralen Raumforderungen.

Arterial hypertension caused by a paraganglioma is rare and approximately one third of all cases of paraganglioma occur as part of a hereditary syndrome. Among these the Carney-Stratakis syndrome is characterized by the occurrence of paraganglioma/pheochromocytoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors caused by germline mutations of the succinate dehydrogenase subunit genes (B-D). We report the case of a 47-year-old female patient suffering from Carney-Stratakis syndrome with an endocrine active thoracic paraganglioma which was successfully resected with the assistance of a heart-lung machine and the gastric stromal tumors were removed in a second surgical intervention.

[Induction of myocardial neoangiogenesis by human growth factors. A new therapeutic approach in coronary heart disease]. / Induktion der myokardialen Neoangiogenese durch humane Wachstumsfaktoren. Ein neuer Therapieansatz bei koronarer Herzkrankheit.

Currently available approaches for treating human coronary heart disease aim to relieve symptoms and the risk of myocardial infarction either by reducing myocardial oxygen demand, preventing further disease progression, restoring coronary blood flow pharmacologically or mechanically, or bypassing the stenotic lesions and obstructed coronary artery segments. Gene therapy, especially using angiogenic growth factors, has emerged recently as a potential new treatment for cardiovascular disease. Following extensive experimental research on angiogenic growth factors, the first clinical studies on patients with coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular lesions have been performed. The polypeptides fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) appear to be particularly effective in initiating neovascularization (neoangiogenesis) in hypoxic or ischemic tissues. The first clinical study on patients with coronary heart disease treated by local intramyocardial injection of FGF-1 showed a 3-fold increase of capillary density mediated by the growth factor. Also, angiogenic growth factor injection intramyocardially as sole therapy for end-stage coronary disease showed an improvement of myocardial perfusion in the target areas as well as a reduction of symptoms and an increase in working capacity. Angiogenic therapy of the human myocardium introduces a new modality of treatment for coronary heart disease in terms of regulation of blood vessel growth. Beyond drug therapy, angioplasty and bypass surgery, this new approach may evolve into a fourth principle of treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

[Problems in differential diagnosis and therapy of intracardiac space-occupying lesions--myxoma and thrombus]. / Zur Problematik der Differentialdiagnose und Therapie der intrakardialen Raumforderungen--Myxome und Thromben.

The total removal of the myxoma under extracorporeal circulation from the origin maintains the optimal surgical treatment. Differentiation between myxoma and thromboses is a problem of preoperative diagnostics. Both tumors show unspecific symptoms. Therefore echocardiography and angiography are required as diagnostic tools. Between 1984 and 1991, 14 patients were cured from intracardiac tumors in the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Leipzig. Problems in the sensitivity and security of the preoperative diagnostics and certain aspects of the surgical treatment will be discussed.

[Induction of sarcoma by resorbable osteosynthesis material in the rat. A preliminary report]. / Sarkomauslösung durch resorbierbares Osteosynthesematerial bei der Ratte. Eine vorläufige Mitteilung.

In an experiment testing the resorption of Poly-l-lactate in the back muscles of Cara rats a foreign body sarcoma occurred in two rats. 20 months after implantation of a body of high molecular weight poly-l-lactate a malignant fibrous histiocytoma developed in one rat. A soft tissue tumor, which was classified according to the immune-histiochemical analysis as a neurogenic sarcoma, developed 23 months after the implantation of a body of injection-casted poly-l-lactate of high molecular weight in a second rat.