[Polypoid pseudosarcomatous carcinoma of the esophagus. Report of two cases with favorable outcome after medical treatment]. / Carcinome pseudosarcomateux polypoïde de l'oesophage. Evolution favorable de deux cas traités médicalement.

The authors report two cases of esophageal polypoid pseudosarcoma with favorable outcome after endoscopic and medical treatment. Neither of the two patients could undergo general anesthesia. Endoscopic resection or monopolar electrocoagulation of the tumor was associated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. A complete response of the tumor was observed in both cases. The two patients were alive and well with no evidence of recurrence or metastasis 3 and 5 years after diagnosis. Immunohistochemical study of those two tumors with monoclonal antibodies to intermediate filaments (keratin and vimentin) suggests duality in the spindle cell component. It may explain the biological behaviour of these particular cancers that have a better prognosis than other types of squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus.

[Efficacy of ranitidine and cimetidine in the treatment of gastric or duodenal ulcer resistant to an initial treatment with cimetidine. Multicenter controlled therapeutic trial]. / Efficacité de la ranitidine et de la cimétidine dans le traitement de l'ulcère duodénal ou gastrique résistant à un traitement initial par la cimétidine. Essai thérapeutique contrôlé multicentrique.

In a controlled clinical trial conducted in 28 centers, 354 ambulatory patients with a cimetidine-resistant duodenal or gastric ulcer (at least six weeks of treatment at a dose of 1 g/day) confirmed by endoscopy were allocated at random to either ranitidine or cimetidine treatment: 166 patients received cimetidine (1.6 g/day in 4 oral doses), and 188, ranitidine (0.3 g/day in 2 oral doses). The two groups differed significantly with regard to sex and history of gastrointestinal hemorrhage but not with regard to age, weight, history of peptic disease, history of perforated ulcer, duodenal/gastric ulcer ratio, number of smokers and alcohol consumers. The criterion of effectiveness was endoscopic healing of the ulcer after six weeks of treatment; in case of doubt, vital staining with methyl blue was performed. A significant difference was observed between the results of the two treatments in the duodenal group (p less than 0.05) but not in the gastric group, the healing rates being respectively 71 p. 100 and 65 p. 100 with ranitidine, and 59 p. 100 and 44 p. 100 with cimetidine. Twelve patients developed side-effects with a highly significant difference between the two groups: 11 patients under cimetidine and one patient under ranitidine (p less than 0.001). These results show the effectiveness of ranitidine as a complementary treatment in cimetidine-resistant peptic ulcers of duodenal location.

[Granular cell myoblastoma or Abrikosov's tumor of the esophagus]. / Tumeur à cellules granuleuses, dite tumeur d'Abrikossoff, de l'oesophage.

Granular cell myoblastoma or Abrikossoff's tumor of the esophagus are exceptional: fiveteen cases have been described in the literature. In this work we present the following case: discovery of a sub mucosal tumor during a systematic fibroscopic examination of an anemix patient. Only histological examination was able to make the diagnosis.