[Osteoarticular manifestations of sickle cell anemia. Update apropos of a series of 29 cases]. / Manifestations ostéoarticulaires de la drépanocytose. Mise au point à propos d'une série de 29 cas.

In a retrospective study, the authors report 14 cases of osteoarticular manifestations, among 29 patients affected with a sickle cell disease observed at adult age. They insist on their frequency and their interest for diagnosis and prognostic. Effectively, the diagnosis has been revealed on occasion of these manifestations in 9 cases/14. The articular signs are noted in 35%, and the osseous signs in 25% of cases.

[Phaeochromocytoma with psychiatric disturbances. One case (author's transl)]. / Phéochromocytome avec troubles psychiatriques. Un cas.

A case of phaeochromocytoma which presented with hypertension and severe psychiatric disturbances including three attempts at suicide. These psychiatric problems regressed completely following removal of the tumour. Although inconstant, the combination of hypertension and psychiatric problems should always lead to studies for the possible presence of a phaeochromocytoma. The mechanism of these disturbances is not clearly understood but either a direct action of catecholamines on cerebral tissue or changes secondary to blood pressure variations are suggested.

Renovascular hypertension: the role of nonspecific factors in the antihypertensive effect of surgery.

Effective surgical treatment was carried out in 67 patients who were selected from a population of 336 subjects with renovascular hypertension. Split renal function studies and estimation of plasma renin activity in both renal veins were made to demonstrate the functional significance of the stenosis. The degree of disturbance of these tests did not correlate with the preoperative blood pressure level. The percentage decrease in postoperative blood pressure was directly related to the preoperative blood pressure (P less than 0.01). In 23 postoperative patients followed yearly for 5 years, the blood pressure increased progressively and was positively correlated with the duration of follow up (P less than 0.02). Patients with renovascular hypertension had a lower frequency of blood group 0 and a higher frequency of blood group A than did normotensive controls. The results of the study suggest that, in renovascular hypertension, the antihypertensive effect of surgical treatment is not exclusively related to the physiological consequence of the stenosis and that nonspecific factors, possibly of genetic origin, may determine the blood pressure response after surgical treatment.