[Modern imaging in cerebral vein angioma]. / L'imagerie moderne dans les angiomes veineux cérébraux.

Cerebral venous angiomas are vascular malformations of the brain which, before the advent of modern imaging, and in particular MRI, were thought to be rare. They have a specific angiographic aspect called "caput Meduse" as it corresponds to the description of a large draining vein to which converge numerous radial veins located in the white matter. These true vascular malformations have characteristic histological features making it possible to differentiate them from other vascular malformations, notably cavernomas. These lesions are less scanty than classically believed, being the most frequent malformations encountered in post-mortem examination series. The circumstances in which cerebral venous angiomas are discovered vary considerably, and haemorrhage can be the revealing sign. Some authors regard these malformations as "abnormalities" of white matter veins and not as pathological entities, since they derive from a change in development during embryogenesis, but this theory is not supported by any anatomical evidence. The same authors attribute the bleeding to an associated cavernoma. Whereas CT enables venous angiomas and possible associated cavernomas to be detected, only repeated MRI explorations performed after the finding of venous angioma and hemorrhage can permit, by analysis of signal changes, to confirm or invalidate the non-pathological theory of the venous malformation and its tendency to bleed. Apart from hemorrhages, since gadolinium is used MRI is the most reliable and least invasive means to diagnose angiomas and to detect associated occult angiographic malformations. For this reason, nowadays only hemorrhages require an angiography in search of an arteriovenous malformation demanding prompt treatment. Moreover, MRI makes it possible to detect angiographically occult malformations.

[A case of esophageal papillomatosis in adults]. / Un cas de papillomatose oesophagienne de l'adulte.

The authors report the case of a 60 year-old woman patient with esophageal papillomatosis, revealed by slowly progressive dysphagia and digestive hemorrhage. Multiple warty tumors were found at endoscopy, starting at approximately 23 cm from the dental ridge, increasing in size into the lower esophagus where they were responsible for stenosis. Pathological examination demonstrated epithelial proliferation with lengthened papillae, hyperkeratosis, hyperacanthosis and severe dysplasia. No extra-esophageal papillomata were discovered. Subtotal esophagectomy was performed and pathological examination with immune markers suggested a human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. However, search for HPV DNA was negative. To our knowledge, this constitutes the fifth case reported in the literature. The principal problem posed by this rare disease is the possible association with and/or progression to carcinoma, the diagnosis of which may be difficult, and particularly, with verrucous carcinoma. With this diagnostic uncertainty in mind, the authors suggest total surgical removal of the esophagus in this situation.