No abstract

To study whether the increasing prevalence of gallstone disease noted in a 100-year interval in a large Romanian town has continued in recent years, we analyzed all necropsies (5234) performed during 10 years (1983-1992) in Cluj-Napoca. Gallstone disease (GD) was defined as the presence of stones or the absence of the gallbladder due to cholecystectomy. The results obtained were compared to those of the previous 10-year period (1973-1982). We found a significant increase of GD both in men (6.9% to 9.8%) (P < 0.001) and women (17.1% to 21.7%) (P < 0.001). The ratio of women to men with GD decreased as compared to the first time period (1.4/1 vs 1.8/1). The actual age-standardized prevalence of GD was higher than that calculated for the first time period: 7.6% in men (5.0% in 1973-1982) and 16.9% in women (8.4% in 1973-1982) (P < 0.001). The necropsy cholecystectomy rate rose markedly; 42.1% of the GD men and 43.0% of the GD women had undergone operation during their life. The present study indicates a higher prevalence of GD in the Romanian town than previously found. The actual prevalence is comparable with that of other central European countries, but it is less than that found in England, Scotland, or Sweden.

SUMMARY.-The paper presents the cytogenetic constitution of an ovarian ascitic carcinoma. Double minute chromatin bodies were seen in all the metaphases; their number was proportional to the number of the cells. Some properties of the double minute chromatin bodies are discussed.THE presence of double minute chromatin bodies has been reported both in human (Spriggs and Boddington, 1962;Cox et al., 1965; Lubs et al., 1966;Levan et al., 1968; Kucheria, 1968) and experimental tumours (Mark, 1967; Donner and Bubenik, 1968). Levan et al. (1968) pointed out some similarities between the double minute chromatin bodies (DMCB) and the accessory or B chromosomes, but their origin and their role in the tumour cells are still debatable. This paper presents a case of ovarian ascitic carcinoma, the cells of which show the presence of DMCB.Case Report THE patient, aged 65, was admitted into the hospital for metrorrhagia, progressive distension of the abdomen and diffuse pain in the abdomen. Clinical examination revealed the presence of ascitic fluid and an ovarian tumour which was excised. Histopathological examination showed the presence of a solid carcinoma which exhibited areas with glandular structure and areas with squamous features. During the post-surgical chemotherapy, the symptoms of an infectious hepatitis were noted and the patient was hospitalized in the Hospital of Infectious Diseases.The chromosomes in the tumour cells of the effusion were studied using the direct method of Jackson (1967), slightly modified. The investigation was done before any therapy. The method of Moorhead et al. (1960) was employed for peripheral blood cells. RESULTSFifty-six metaphases of a good quality were analysed; the striking feature of these metaphases was the presence in all cells of a variable number of DMCB besides the ordinary chromosomes.

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding of rare cause : gastric heterotopic pancreatic tissue, gastric lipoma, and duodenal stromal tumour. Three case reports RsLes auteurs rapportent trois observations de 16sions extra-muqueuses.: hdtdrotopie pancr6atique, lipome avec localisation gastrique et tumeur stromale avec localisation duoddnale, compliqudes par h6morragie. A partir de ces observations, la discussion porte sur la fr6quence, le diagnostic et le traitement de ces 16sions. SUMMARYThe authors report three cases of extra-epithelial lesions : heterotopic pancreatic tissue and lipoma with gastric localization and stromal tumour with duodenal localization, complicated by haemorrhage. Based on these cases, the authors discuss aspects related to the frequency, diagnosis and treatment of these lesions.