[Concomitant pulmonary nocardiosis and Hodgkin's disease: importance of long-term treatment]. / Nocardiose pulmonaire lors du diagnostic de maladie de Hodgkin.

A 32-year-old patient taking corticosteroid therapy for 10 months for autoimmune hemolytic anemia developed Hodgkin's disease and concomitant acute pulmonary nocardiosis. After treatment with imipenen and amikacin for 15 days, which was adapted to susceptibility tests, multiple-drug chemotherapy using the ABVD protocol (doxorubicin, bléomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) was given without recurrence of the pulmonary infection. Antibiotic prophylaxis using a minocycine-erythromycin combination was continued for 8 months. We discuss the importance of long-term treatment based on data in the literature.

[Treatment of hypereosinophilic syndromes of myeloproliferative expression with the combination of hydroxyurea and interferon alpha. Apropos of 7 cases]. / Traitement des syndromes hyperéosinophiliques à expression myéloproliférative par l'association hydroxyurée-interféron alpha. A propos de 7 observations.

Seven patients suffering from hypereosinophilic syndrome with clinical and/or hematological symptoms of a myeloproliferative syndrome were treated with a combination of hydroxyurea and interferon-alpha. To date, 6 of them have been followed for more than 1 year. In all cases, this therapy decreased circulating hypereosinophilia to under 1,500/mm3 and obtained normal eosinophil levels in 5 patients with a parallel regression of visceral complications. None of the patients experienced treatment-associated side effects, particularly hematological ones. Hypereosinophilic syndrome has a poor prognosis due, for the most part, to the development of visceral, cardiac and neurological complications, and, more secondarily, to the risk of progression towards acute leukemia. Conventional treatments, corticosteroids and hydroxyurea, have greatly improved the prognosis, but failure of these therapeutics remains common in the myeloproliferative form of the disease. Because interferon-alpha was proven to effectively treat chronic myeloid leukemia, it has been proposed for the treatment of hypereosinophilic syndromes, and encouraging results have been obtained despite the high daily doses required to control the disease. In the future, its association with hydroxyurea could represent an alternative therapy capable of controlling the disease at low doses thereby limiting the risk of side effects.

[Fasciolar hepatic abscesses: value of hepatic ultrasonography. Apropos of 3 cases]. / Abcès hépatiques distomiens: intérêt de l'échographie hépatique. A propos de trois observations.

Hepatic abscess is a rare complication of fasciolasis. The ultrasonographic appearances of these abscesses are not well known. The finding of nodular echodense images in the hepatic parenchyma may cause diagnostic confusion. We report three cases in which abdominal ultrasonography demonstrated hepatic abscesses complicating fascioliasis. Follow-up examination showed regression of these lesions after treatment.

[The risk of hemorrhage versus the thromboembolic risk in patients with prosthetic valve]. / Le risque hémorragique en face du risque thrombo-embolique chez les porteurs de prothèse valvulaire.

376 adults were followed up for between 2 and 153 months after surgery (mean: 3.8 years); all of them, with the exception of 8, received anticoagulant treatment. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using several tests. Thromboembolic complications occurred in 16 per 100 after 5 years, and 8.5. per 100 of them were fatal. Among the factors favoring this complication are the type of valvular disorder (the rate of throembolism being 4 times greater with mitral valve defects), the type of prosthesis, and the efficiency of the anticoagulant therapy (the risk of thromboembolism being four times greater in those patients whose treatment has been inneffective). Against the vitamin antagonists must be set the haemorrhages: the incidence of lethal haemorrhage in this series was 6.4 per 100 patients per treatment year. There was a proven hypoprothrombinaemia to below the desirable level in two thirds of these cases, and in one case out of four an additional predisposing factor could be demonstrated. Haemorrhage and thromboembolism are together responsible for one in four of the late deaths. In order to reduce the mortality, several solutions are considered, one of which is to utilise anti-aggregation treatment. However, the vitamin K antagonists remain an essential part of treatment in the majority of cases; it can only be justifiable to withhold them in those patients in whom the risks of haemorrhage are for various reasons considered to be too high. The introduction of biological valves or of valves with a lessened risk of embolism is highly desirable in such cases.