[Chondroma of the soft tissues of the hand. Report of a recurrent case]

A twenty six-year-old man presented a mass of the fifth left finger. X Ray and pathological examination after surgical treatment showed an extraskeletal chondroma. One month later, this tumor recurred, leading to a second surgical procedure. At one year follow up there was no evidence of new recurrence. A review of the literature shows that recurrence of this type of tumor is extremely rare. Also, it stresses the importance of a proper diagnosis which allows an appropriate treatment initially and after a recurrence.

[Hemophagocytic syndrome: an underestimated cause of the syndrome of non-infectious fever?]

Haemophagocytic syndrome (HM) is a severe disorder with characteristic clinical and biological features. The case of a patient with malignant lymphoma who experienced HM during Herpes virus I pulmonary infection is reported. Main clinical, biologial and pathological findings are described. The risk of underestimation of this disease in patients requiring intensive care as well as the absolute necessity of an early diagnosis are emphasised.

[Histamine food poisoning]

The authors describe a collective histamine related food-poisoning epidemic that occurred in the Navy due to the consumption of imported smoked swordfish (Xyphias gladius). Twenty cases were detected. The relative risk among consumers of swordfish is at 7.44 (C.I. of 95%: 2.57-21.59) and the doses of histamine were from 2.030 to 4.750 ppm in 9 samples of tested fish (N < 200 ppm). The interest in using a high-resolution chromatographic liquid to ensure a diagnosis, and in using the community norms in force are shown. A recent review of the literature serves to show the variety of fish responsible for this type of accident, to insist on the mildness, elusiveness, variability, and lack of specificity of clinical signs and therefore risks error in diagnoses, treatment and under-reporting of this type of collective food-poisoning.

[Late abdominal metastases of primary meningeal melanoma. Contribution of MRI]

A case of abdominal metastasis from primary meningeal melanoma is reported. MR imaging demonstrated hyperintensity on T1-weighted images in all the lesions and suggested their melanotic nature.

Heart blocks during sleep: a case report in a healthy subject

Cardiac arrhythmia was fortuitously discovered during an experimental sleep recording in a healthy 50-year-old man. a 24 hr electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring revealed the prevalence of these abnormalities during sleep and their absence during the awake period. Sleep and ECG were recorded during 4 consecutive nights. Numerous (500-1, 100 events/night) heart blocks and sinus pauses occurred 60-80 min after going to bed. They were never observed during awakenings and were exacerbated during paradoxical sleep. The atrioventricular blocks were of the Wenckebach-Luciani type. No other abnormality was found. These conduction abnormalities are discussed as possibly due to phasic increases in vagal firing, which during paradoxical sleep would be superimposed on the tonic increase in heart rate.