[Breast metastases from lung cancers with the EGFR mutation]. / Métastases mammaires des cancers bronchopulmonaires avec mutation de l'EGFR.

INTRODUCTION: The breast is a rare site for metastases from lung cancers. Their occurrence in patients with adenocarcinoma which has the EGFR mutation is exceptional. In this context, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate a second primary breast cancer from a breast metastasis. OBSERVATIONS: We report the cases of two patients who developed breast metastases from lung adenocarcinoma that was TTF1 positive with a deletion of exon 19 of the EGFR gene. A non-smoking woman of Asian origin, presented with a solitary breast metastasis 29 months after being established on first-line chemotherapy. The second case was a Caucasian patient who was an active smoker presented with tumor progression with multiple metastases including involvement of both breasts 10 months after the start of treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In both, tumor cells from the breast showed positive immunostaining for TTF1 and genotyping detected the presence of the deletion of exon 19 of the EGFR gene. CONCLUSION: In patients with lung adenocarcinoma and EGFR mutation, immunohistochemical examination, including TTF1 and genotyping of synchronous breast tumour, is needed to confirm its metastatic nature and to guide treatment.

[Comparison of various indirect methods for evaluation of sinus function]. / Comparaison de différentes méthodes indirectes d'évaluation de la fonction sinusale.

Sinus node function was evaluated by Mandel, Strauss and Narula's methods in 60 consecutive patients: 20 females, 40 males; average age 59 +/- 17 years. Three had second degree sinoatrial block, 2 had bradycardia-tachycardia syndromes and 10 had sinus bradycardia. The corrected sinus node recovery time was 414 +/- 417 ms. It exceeded 520 ms in 8 cases, 5 where the two other methods confirmed sinus node dysfunction, 1 where the two other methods showed no abnormality. In the last two patients pathological results with Narula's method coincided with normal values with Strauss' method but the basal sinus cycle and the post return cycle differed from one method to the other. The atriosinoatrial conduction time estimated by Narula's method was 274 +/- 117 ms. In the thirteen cases where it exceeded 300 ms abnormal results were also recorded with Strauss' (11 cases) and/or Mandel's method (7 cases). The atriosinoatrial conduction time assessed by Strauss' method was 239 +/- 106 ms. It exceeded 300 ms in 18 patients. In these patients the results of Narula and Mandel's methods were normal in 7 cases. This discordance cannot be explained either by variations in the catheter position, or by the duration of the basal sinus or the post return cycles. This raises the question of penetration of the sinus node by the last stimulus when Narula's technique is used. A significant linear correlation was observed between the atriosinoatrial conduction time assessed by Narula's method and the atriosinoatrial time assessed by Strauss' method (N = 60; r = 0,59) and with the corrected sinus node recovery time (N = 60; r = 0,43) and a double linear correlation was found with these two parameters (N = 60; r = 0,62). There was no significant linear correlation between the atriosinoatrial conduction time assessed by Strauss' method and the corrected sinus node recovery time (N = 60; r = 0,27). The atriosinoatrial conduction time evaluated by Narula's method seems to be intermediary between the two other parameters which seem to be independent of each other.