Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the external auditory canal with pulmonary, renal and liver metastases.

We report a patient with adenoid cystic carcinoma of the external auditory canal with multiple pulmonary, liver and renal secondaries. She had a palpable left renal mass. The clinical course and treatment of this unusual neoplasm as reported in literature are briefly reviewed.

Cancer associated with leprosy.

Eighty-seven leprosy patients with cancer, seen between 1960 to 1984, were studied. Cancer in patients with leprosy occurred in a younger age group compared to the general population. The most common type of malignancy seen among males was squamous cell carcinoma of the lower extremity while in hospital patient population it was cancer of head and neck. Among the females, carcinoma cervix was the most common as in the hospital patients. The types of malignancy occurring among leprosy patients was similar to that of the hospital patient population with the exception of an increase in incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of extremities.

Ovarian and testicular damage by cytotoxic drugs.

The use of cytotoxic drugs has improved the survival figures in malignancies. These drugs exert harmful effects on the tumour cell and normal cells as well. The detrimental effects on gonads were studied in 36 patients who had cytotoxic chemotherapy for various malignancies. In Group I (20 adults in clinical remission after chemotherapy), sterility was noted in 93.7% of men and hundred percent of women experienced irregularly mensus during treatment, 50% of them subsequently developing persistent amenorrhoea. In Group II, (16 adults undergoing chemotherapy) 100% of men had oligospermia, with 75% of them developing azoospermia after 2-3 cycles of treatment. Women also showed similar effect, but were less vulnerable than men.