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Biomedical subjects

B Benton

Publications and source records attributed to B Benton.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Risk factors for cancer of the testis in young men.

An individual matched case-control study of testis cancer in 131 men under age 40 was conducted to investigate antecedent risk factors including events during prenatal life. Ten patients were born with an undescended testis compared to only two controls (p less equal to 0.02), a previously reported risk factor. Two new risk factors were uncovered: six patients-mothers received hormones during the index pregnancy compared to only one control-mother, and eight patient-mothers and two control-mothers reported excessive nausea as a complication of the index pregnancy. A hypothesis linking these three factors is presented: viz, that a major risk factor for testis cancer is a relative excess of certain hormones (in particular estrogen) at the time of differentiation of the testes.

Adolescent

Male genitourinary abnormalities and maternal diethylstilbestrol.

In view of the risk of vaginal cancer developing in young female subjects exposed in utero to maternally ingested diethylstilbestrol a pilot study was undertaken of male subjects similarly exposed. A healthy questionnaire was mailed to 306 male subjects whose mothers were known to have taken diethylstilbestrol in the early part of their pregnancies and to 231 age and sex-matched controls identified from the same record source. Although there was no increased history of cancer, heart disease or asthma when the groups were compared there was a higher incidence of reported urinary tract symptoms and genital abnormalities in the group exposed to diethylstilbestrol. The presence of these abnormalities was confirmed by physical examination of 15 respondents. Studies in experimental animals also have shown that in certain species maternally ingested stilbestrol may result in abnormalities of the genitaltensive clinical studies be undertaken to determine the level of risk, if any, to which many thousands of young men are subject.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced

Liver-cell adenomas associated with use of oral contraceptives.

During the past six years an increasing number of liver-cell adenomas in women were diagnosed, and we undertook a study of possible etiologic factors, including use of oral contraceptives, in 42 women. There was a significant difference between cases and matched controls in mean months of oral-contraceptive use: 73.4 as compared to 36.2 (P less than 0.001). The women with adenomas took mestranol-containing pills much more commonly than the controls (P less than 0.0001). Hemorrhage into the tumor was often associated with the onset of menstruation in women taking oral contraceptives. Long-term use of oral contraceptives, especially those containing a high total dose of steroids or mestranol as the synthetic estrogen, should be balanced against risks of side effects of the drugs.

Adult