Volume 98  ·   Issue 01  ·  1985

Variation of peripheral T-lymphocytes after total body γ-irradiation in 9 cases of chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL) was studied by cytochemical assay of acid phosphatase activity. The T-lymphocytes increased significantly after a cumulative dose of 50 rads and, slightly after 100 rads with simultaneous clinical improvement. Its biological and clinical significance is discussed.

40 patients with refractory ascites due to cirrhosis of liver, late schistosomiasis and cardiac or renal diseases were treated by reinfusion of ascitic fluid concentrate using a simple device with a polyethylene glycol (mw 2,000) as a dehydrator. The rein fusion totaled 147 times. Short-term follow-up showed that the ascites disappeared completely in 19 (47.5%) and that the others improved markedly. All who improved regained response to the usual diuretics. The optimal concentration of reinfusion fluid was 11.1 time while the protein content was concentrated 10.5 times. Only occasional febrile reactions were noted. This method requires only very simple apparatus for the formation and reinfusion of concentrated ascitic fluid and is highly effective, convenient and safe, and the equipment is portable.

Primary carcinoma of the trachea is one of the rarest tumors. From February 1979 to May 1980, we performed 320 fibrobronchoscopies and discovered 120 cases of brochogenic carcinoma, but only six of them were primary carcinoma of the trachea. This paper describes and analyses the clinical symptoms, radiologic and fibrobronchoscopic findings, histopathologic classification, and direct spread and metastasis of the six cases. Incidence, pathology, and diagnosis of the disease are discussed and literature is reviewed in the paper.

A patient with postmastectomy lymphedema was treated by lymphatic venous shunt. One month after operation, water displacement of the affected arm was markedly reduced, and feeling of tension and bursting pain apparently improved. Follow-up one year after operation showed no recurrence. Technique was devised to facilitate the insertion of needles for anastomosis.

Light microscopy study of direct smear of cells cultured in vitro revealed definite cellular atypia, abnormal mitoses and gland-like arrangement of the cells. In cells of the original human gastric carcinoma specimen, PAS positive secretory granules were present, but no AB positive ones. Tumor tissue obtained after animal inoculation showed the presence of glandular structure with HE stain, and nest-like structure was demonstrated electronmicroscopically. Also revealed were a few "A cells" secretory granules as well as junctional complexes characteristics of epithelial tissue. In addition, Leuchtenberger's inclusion bodies were found within the in vitro cultured cells. This also supported their epithelial origin and malignant nature. The original human gastric carcinoma was differentiated adenocarcinoma, which manifested with dedifferentiation after prolonged culture in vitro. It might be concluded that the in vitro cultured cells assayed were adenocarcinomas, and, when considered with the clinical data, gastric adenocarcinoma.

Fifteen cases of male breast cancer were found among 725 cases of breast cancer treated during the 10 year period ending in December 1983 at Nanjing Gulou Hospital and the Jiangsu Cancer Institute. The average age of this group was 59.3 years with peak incidence 68 years later than in females. A breast mass was the earliest, most important symptom. The duration of symptoms before treatment ranged from a few days to 6 years, averaging 31.33 months. Differentiation of male breast cancer from gynecomastia is important, especially in males beyond middle age. Male breast cancer is of the same pathological types as seen in females. As with female breast cancer, surgical excision, especially radical mastectomy seems to be the treatment of choice. Supplementary therapeutics including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and traditional Chinese medicine are beneficial in appropriately selected patients. Factors influencing patient prognosis include type of treatment, clinical stage of the disease, histological type of tumor, grade of malignancy, presence or absence of axillary lymph node metastasis, degree of pericancerous lymphoid reaction and elastic fiber reaction. In other words, the prognosis is deter mined by many factors, all of which should be considered when evaluating patient's outcome. How these factors influence the prognosis is not entirely clear and requires further elucidation.

Extracrainial vertebral artery theoencephalo graphy shows definite differences in the middle aged and geriatric patients with cerebral arteriosclerosis and healthy young people. The method is of clinical value in diagnosing cerebral arteriosclerosis and estimating cerebral blood supply, but the full value of the formulae used in evaluating the test results must be studied further.

This article deals with changes in serum glycine-conjugated cholic acid in various chronic liver diseases as measured by radioimmunoassay and com pares its value as a parameter with that of conventional liver function tests in the diagnosis of chronic active hepatitis and posthepatitis cirrhosis.

This article presents 77 cases of African human trypanosomiasis found in Southern Sudan from 1980 to July 1981. They account for 6.1% of the total panosomiasis account for 6.1% of the total 1,252 patients found during this period. African human trypanosomiasis is classified into two types: Gam-biense sleeping sickness and rodesiense sleeping sickness. There is no definite difference in shape between the two types. But clinically, they are not the same; the former is chronic and the latter acute. Both have the same clinical symptoms characterized by irregular fever, frequent severe headache, marked fatigue and drowsiness during the day. The chief signs include anemia, frigid expression, somnolence, enlarged lymph nodes, tachycardia and arrhythmia, and hepatosplenomegaly. The laboratory findings are reduced hemoglobin and increased ESR. Trypanosoma is found during blood film, bone marrow film, lymph gland puncture fluid and cerebrospinal fluid examinations, which are essential to the diagnosis of trypanosomiasis. Experiments have proved that non-arsonate suramin and arsonate melarsoprol are the ideal medicines for the treatment of trypanosomiasis at present. The cure rate of the 77 cases is 92.2%, the improvement rate 3.9% and the death rate 3.9%. We believe that it is of special importance to train the local medical and health workers with epidemiological knowledge, diagnostic and curing skills of African sleeping sickness; to carry out mass health campaigns; to build up the people's health; to combine treatment with prevention; and to set up medical and health networks for the control of the outbreak and spread of trypnosomiasis.