[Chronic dissecting aortic aneurysm and Turner's syndrome. Apropos of a case]. / Anévrysme aortique chronique disséquant et syndrome de Turner. A propos d'un cas.

Turner's syndrome is a genetic abnormality which is associated with cardiovascular anomaly in 20% of cases. Coarctation of the aorta and bicuspid aortic valve are the commonest malformations. Aortic dissection is the most serious complication affecting these patients. The authors report the case of chronic aortic dissection of the ascending and transverse aorta in a 27 year old patient with Turner's syndrome. The dissection was diagnosed on angiography. Transthoracic echocardiography showed aneurysmal dilatation of the aortic root. Surgical treatment consisted in replacement of ascending and transverse aorta with a Dacron tube. The anatomopathological analysis showed cystic medianecrosis of the aortic wall. The immediate postoperative evolution was satisfactory. The long-term outcome with a 4 year follow-up was excellent from the clinical and echocardiographic point of view. Turner's syndrome is probably associated with a congenital abnormality of the connective tissue especially of the elastic fibres of the aortic wall, explaining the development, though rare, of aneurysmal dilatation of the ascending and transverse aorta and dissection. These patients should be followed up regularly clinically and by transthoracic echocardiography. Other investigations such as transoesophageal echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging and angiography are indicated when aortic dilatation, aortic regurgitation or chest pain suggesting aortic dissection are observed.

[Cardiac toxicity of 5-fluorouracil. Two cases]. / Cardiotoxicité du 5-fluorouracile. Deux observations.

Major ventricular repolarization disorders without evidence of myocardial infarction developed in 2 patients during the first course of a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment in doses of 1,000 mg/m2/day. Anginal pain was present in one patient but not in the other. The electrical abnormalities persisted for more than 6 weeks in one case. Explorations carried out 2 and 6 weeks later respectively under calcium inhibitors showed absence of coronary artery stenosis, negative methyl ergonovine test (even after 5-FU infusion in one patient) and normal left ventricular kinetics. The mechanism of cardiac toxicity is discussed on the basis of these data: some elements support a coronary spasm and others direct myocardial toxicity.

[Intravenous urography in acute pyelonephritis]. / L'urographie intraveineuse dans la pyélonéphrite aiguë.

Intravenous urography, systematically performed in 50 consecutive acute pyelonephritis patients, revealed abnormalities in 17 of them: in 12 cases (24%), treatment and follow-up were modified; in the other 5 cases (10%), the anomalies were insignificant. The nephrogram was normal for 33 patients (66%). The frequency of significant abnormalities was higher in patients over 50 years of age (46.2%) than in those under 50 (16.2%) (p less than 0.05), and was also higher in patients remaining febrile for 3 days after the onset of an appropriate antibiotic therapy (66.6%) than in responsive patients (14.4%) (p less than 0.01). Among the significant lesions, 10 were detectable by echography and another by abdominal X-ray. Thus, a population of women under 50 years of age with acute pyelonephritis can be selected for urography, as shown by these results, however, they must be confirmed before changing the systematic practice of urography.