RESULTSThe findings in the five patients tended to indicate that metastatic progression appears to induce spontaneous regression of the previous tumour site. Patients explored for extragonadal germ cell tumour present with various clinical features depending on the site of the metastases. CONCLUSIONDespite the controversial hypotheses of the origin of these tumours, extragonadal germ cell tumours should be considered to be metastases of a 'burned-out' primary testicular tumour that must be investigated. When a primary testicular tumour is detected, the testis must be removed, and standard chemotherapy yields good long-term results. The hypothesis of an immunological reaction against the tumour inducing the spontaneous necrosis of the primary tumour and possibly the metastases should be considered. Immunological screening should be proposed in patients to investigate this interesting model of spontaneous tumour regression.

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Kidney transplant with grafts containing multiple renal arteries rather than grafts with a single renal artery does not significantly influence patient and graft outcomes.

Hemodynamic disorders in brain dead organ donors induce hypoxia, warm ischemia and finally tissue damage. A cold preservation period also induces tissue and cellular lesions. The two major modes of preservation are cold storage (CS) and hypothermic pulsatile perfusion (HPP). We aimed to compare the influence of each mode of preservation and their combination on oxidative stress, perfusion characteristics and tissue damage, after a period of warm ischemia. Rat kidneys which had undergone ischemia (0, 30, 60 min) were preserved either by CS (12, 24 h), or by HPP (12 h), or by a combination of both (HPP+CS, CS+HPP), in University of Wisconsin cold storage solution (UWCSS) at + 4 degrees C. During HPP, renal vascular pressure decreased then increased to reach 90 mmHg after perfusion for 7 h. If HPP followed CS, the mean pressure reached 200 mmHg, showing successive high amplitude peaks. HPP had a deleterious effects on tissue structure with tubular necrosis, and induced an increase in catalase (Cat) and a decrease in manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn SOD) and gluthatione peroxidase (GPx) activity. Copper zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) activity was not reduced except with CS+HPP. During CS, we observed an increase in GPx, Cu/Zn SOD and Cat activity, a decrease in Mn SOD activity and no histological alterations in the kidney. CS induces a slight oxidative stress which is not important enough to induce major tissue damage. HPP with UWCSS induces a stronger stress, which overpowers the antioxidant defences, inducing tissue damage. The reperfusion of HPP with UWCSS emphasises the stress initiated by CS. In addition an increase in damage occurred in the CS + HPP group.

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