ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To report the third case of postradiation malignant triton tumor and to review the literature on malignant triton tumor with regard to features of possible prognostic significance. DATA SOURCES: Published articles were retrieved through MEDLINE, and additional articles were obtained through searches of the bibliographies. STUDY SELECTION: Cases were selected on the basis of histologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural studies of malignancies showing both neurogenic and myogenic differentiation. Only those cases with survival data were selected for analysis. DATA EXTRACTION: The relationship between survival time and the possible prognostic variables of sex, presence or absence of von Recklinghausen's disease, age, and tumor location were evaluated by Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a 5-year specific survival of 26%. Tumor location showed a statistically significant association with survival time (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that malignant triton tumors occurring in the upper extremities, lower extremities, and head and neck have a better prognosis than tumors located in the retroperitoneum, buttock, or trunk. It is not clear if this variation is due to a difference in tumor grade, tumor stage, or resectability, or if it is a consequence of therapy.
Subject(s)
Muscle Neoplasms/pathology , Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/pathology , Neurilemmoma/pathology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Distribution , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Immunoenzyme Techniques , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Muscle Neoplasms/classification , Muscle Neoplasms/mortality , Muscle Neoplasms/ultrastructure , Muscle, Skeletal/pathology , Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/classification , Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/mortality , Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/ultrastructure , Neurilemmoma/classification , Neurilemmoma/mortality , Neurilemmoma/ultrastructure , Prognosis , Regression Analysis , Sex Distribution , Survival AnalysisABSTRACT
Twenty-one tension headache sufferers and 21 control subjects were exposed to a series of psychological stressors and an ischemic pain task, involving a tourniquet around the arm. Compared to control subjects, headache patients showed higher heart rates and evidence of more prolonged vasoconstriction in the hands and the ear lobe. No between-group differences in EMG were found, however. Headache patients rated the tourniquet as more painful than did control subjects, and described themselves as more anxious, angry, and depressed. The pattern of results is consistent with the interpretation that headache patients are emotionally and autonomically hyperreactive to pain and to psychological stress.
Subject(s)
Arousal , Headache/psychology , Pain Measurement , Stress, Psychological/complications , Adult , Humans , Sensory ThresholdsABSTRACT
Seventeen carefully screened muscle contraction headache sufferers were tested in both the headache and the nonheadache state. At baseline, forehead and trapezius EMG were higher, whereas finger temperature and finger blood volume were lower in the headache than the nonheadache state. At a borderline level, physiological reactivity was greater during the headache than the nonheadache state in response to a reaction-time stressor. During the headache state, subjects also reported themselves to be more anxious, depressed, and angry than they were in the nonheadache state and said they felt themselves to be more hassled by external stressors and less able to cope with, prevent, and control their headaches. The findings are consistent with the notion that shoulder/neck tension and emotional arousal contribute to tension headaches. Evidence is less clear for the contribution of vasomotor factors and general physiological reactivity.
Subject(s)
Affect , Arousal , Headache/psychology , Adult , Affect/physiology , Aged , Arousal/physiology , Electromyography , Female , Headache/physiopathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Personality Tests , Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted , Stress, Psychological/complicationsABSTRACT
12 subjects from an experiment on relaxation therapy for asthma were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Full scale hypnotic susceptibility scores were positively correlated, at a borderline significance, with improvement in the methacholine challenge test, a measure of asthma severity. Performance on the amnesia item of the Harvard Group Scale was correlated with improvement in self-reported symptoms of asthma.
Subject(s)
Asthma/psychology , Hypnosis , Adult , Aged , Asthma/therapy , Behavior Therapy , Female , Humans , Male , Methacholine Chloride , Methacholine Compounds , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Spontaneous release of a taut, fibrotic subretinal strand was observed in a patient with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. This strand had been elevating the retina, and its release led to partial reattachment. Whereas spontaneous resolution of preretinal membrane contraction in retinal detachment has been reported, this is the first report of spontaneous release of such a subretinal fibrotic strand. The manner in which the strand released raised the question of whether efforts should be made to rupture such strands with transcleral pressure prior to considering retinotomy.
Subject(s)
Retina/pathology , Retinal Detachment/pathology , Adult , Eye Diseases/pathology , Fundus Oculi , Granuloma/complications , Granuloma/pathology , Humans , Male , Retinal Detachment/complications , Toxocariasis/complications , Toxocariasis/pathologyABSTRACT
Pigmented lesions of the vagina are very rare. A benign blue nevus of the vagina in a 73-year-old woman, diagnosed clinically as malignant melanoma, is presented. Although 15 cases of blue nevi of the uterine cervix have been reported, this is the first case of blue nevus located exclusively in the vagina.
