Postpartum cerebral infarction associated with aspirin withdrawal in the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.

We observed 2 cases of antiphospholipid syndrome complicated with hemiparesis appearing after delivery. During pregnancy, both women were systematically treated with aspirin (100 mg/day) in addition to prednisone in the second case. Cerebral infarction appeared a few hours after delivery and 8 days after discontinuation of aspirin. The close temporal relationship between discontinuation of aspirin and stroke occurring in early postpartum period suggests a causal link. If aspirin must be stopped for obstetrical reasons, we think that efficient anticoagulation should be started even if the presence of the antiphospholipid antibodies has been priorly asymptomatic.

[Neoplastic hypercalcemia: prognostic factors of survival of patients; from 51 cases seen in internal medicine]. / Hypercalcémies néoplasiques: facteurs pronostiques pour la survie des patients; à partir de 51 cas observés en médecine interne.

In our Internal Medicine department, we conducted a retrospective study of prognostic factors in patients with malignant hypercalcaemia. The records of 51 patients who had both hypercalcaemia and a histologically proven cancer were analyzed; 42 had a solid tumour and 9 had a myeloma. In 61% of the patients cancer had been revealed by hypercalcaemia. The main warning signs were alteration of the general condition (68.6%), pain in the bones (54.9%) and polyuria with dehydration (58.8%). Osteolysis was observed in 75% of the cases. The overall median survival was 86 days. Patients with myeloma had a significantly longer survival than patients with other tumours (312 versus 60 days; p < 0.05). Patients who had received a causal treatment had a longer survival (176 versus 36 days, p < 0.001). In patients with solid tumours we found a negative correlation between survival and initial calcaemia, and a positive correlation between phosphoraemia, albuminaemia and survival. Multivariate analysis showed that the initial calcaemia level and the possibility of causal treatment were the two cardinal prognostic factors. Although the overall survival rate is mediocre, we believe that hospitalization of patients with malignant hypercalcaemia is justified for their better survival comfort and for the possibility of discovering a neoplasia that could benefit from an effective causal treatment, which is the principal factor of improved prognosis.

[Bolus of methylprednisolone and Horton's disease/rhizomelic pseudo-polyarthritis. Preliminary results of a pilot study of treating the bolus with low doses of corticoids]. / Bolus de méthylprednisolone et maladie de Horton/pseudo-polyarthrite rhizomélique. Résultats préliminaires d'une étude pilote de relais des bolus par de faibles doses de corticoïdes.

The aim of this study was to reduce the side effects of corticosteroid therapy responsible for high morbidity in giant cell arteritis. Nine patients were admitted consecutively for temporal arteritis (7 cases) or polymyalgia rheumatica (2 cases) without ocular involvement (mean age: 69.3 years; positive temporal biopsy: 6 cases). The following protocol was used: methylprednisolone, 500 mg/d, i.v., for 3 consecutive days, then low doses (an average of 22.5 mg/d) of prednisone or an equivalent drug. The mean length of follow-up was 15.1 months (range: 6-22 months). The mean lapse of time until the erythrocyte sedimentation rate returned to normal was 10.6 days (range: 3-30 days). The mean dose of prednisone or an equivalent drug at 6 months was 13 mg/d (range: 5-22.5 mg/d). One patient was cured after 17 months of treatment. Another suffered a biological relapse after 13 months of treatment. All the other patients were asymptomatic with no biological signs of an inflammatory syndrome. The complications included: electrocardiogram modifications without necrosis during pulse therapy in 1 woman; unstable angina developed 2 months after the onset of treatment in 1 man; recurrent urinary infections in 1 predisposed male patient. No bone or metabolic side effects have been noted to date. We think that 3 days of intensive intravenous corticotherapy followed by low doses of corticoïds per os constitute an effective and well-tolerated regimen. Additional studies including comparison with conventional treatments should be carried out to confirm these results and, even better, to evaluate the long-term benefits of this protocol in terms of side effects.

[Peripheral inflammatory rheumatism during Horton's disease]. / Rhumatisme inflammatoire périphérique au cours de la maladie de Horton.

From a study of the course of Horton's disease in a population of 41 patients followed up for 3 to 14 years, the cases of 5 patients presenting with peripheral inflammatory arthritis were singled out and analyzed. In all five cases, the condition was a subacute, seronegative, symmetrical polyarthritis affecting mostly the wrists, the metacarpophalangeal joints and the knees. In 2 patients radiology showed articular lesions. As in other cases found in the literature, these raise the problem of rheumatoid arthritis-Horton's disease association or true "Hortonian" arthritis.

[Chronic relapsing polychondritis. Clinical characteristics]. / Polychondrite chronique atrophiante. Particularitiés cliniques.

Some imperfectly known clinical aspects of polychondritis chronica atrophicans (relapsing polychondritis), as extracted from a series of 12 cases, are presented. The osteoarticular lesions are sometimes unusual, involving the temporomandibular or cervical articulations, and the renal lesions may be severe. Pericarditis seems to be more frequent than usually mentioned in the literature. Pulmonary complications are not always those which are classically associated with lesions of the tracheo-bronchial cartilages. Haematological manifestations are not uncommon and must be taken into account when evaluating the prognosis of the disease.