Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Lefebvre.
Large tumours of the vagina are rare. If a vaginal neurofibroma is found a search should be made for other sites of Recklinghausen's disease. The tumour should be removed surgically to avoid risk of degeneration.
This observation reports a case of human superfetation. Fertilizable oocytes and embryos were obtained after ovarian stimulation in a women already several weeks pregnant. Spontaneous monofetal pregnancy had normal development and the embryos obtained after in vitro fertilization were actually frozen.
This study evaluates the respiratory effects of laparoscopy under epidural anesthesia in seven female patients (ASA physical status I) scheduled for a gamete intrafallopian transfer procedure. Epidural anesthesia was performed with 15-18 mL of 1.5% plain lidocaine using a catheter inserted at the L3-4 level. The upper level of analgesia to pinprick was measured 20 min after lidocaine injection. Ventilatory measurements and arterial blood gas analyses were performed (a) preoperatively, in the horizontal supine position with a T7-9 level of analgesia; (b) in the 20 degrees Trendelenburg position with a T2-5 level of analgesia; (c) during intraabdominal insufflation of CO2 through the laparoscope; and (d) after CO2 exsufflation by manual compression of the abdomen before removal of the laparoscope while in the horizontal position. On-line measurements of VO2, VCO2, VE, VT, F, and PETCO2 were made using a Beckman metabolic cart, while the patients breathed room air through an anesthetic face mask. No significant changes in the ventilatory variables were observed in the Trendelenburg position. In contrast, CO2 insufflation significantly increased VE (from 9.1 +/- 1.0 L/min to 11.8 +/- 2.6 L/min, mean +/- SD), and F (from 16.9 +/- 1.9 breaths/min to 23.1 +/- 3.3 breaths/min, mean +/- SD), whereas VCO2 remained unchanged. PaCO2 remained constant throughout the study. These results suggest that epidural anesthesia may be a safe alternative to general anesthesia for outpatient laparoscopy, as it is not associated with ventilatory depression.
Five cases of ossification of the endometrium that have been seen in the course of five years are reported. Special attention is paid to a case that occurred in the post-partum period. Several different hypotheses as to the aetiology of the pathology of this condition are discussed yet again; the only one that seems likely to be possible is that these ossifications start as metaplasias. The clinical, paraclinical and therapeutic angles are also dealt with.
This is a retrospective study of IVF cycles with failure of cleavage at the PMA centre of the University Hospital, Pitie-Salpetriere occurring between May 1985 and December 1988. Failures of cleavage occurred in 23% of the cycles where at least one oocyte was recovered (170 out of 729 cycles). There were three groups of conditions which were analysed: 1. The male factor which was known about before the attempt at IVF (38 cycles - 23% of failures of cleavage). 2. No previously known male factors (126 cycles-74% of failures of cleavage). 3. IVF with frozen donor sperm (6 cycles-3% of failures of cleavage). These couples had a total of 340 cycles with 25 pregnancies. The prognosis differs according to the category mentioned above. If there is a male factor, one attempt at IVF with this partner's sperm seems absolutely justified before proceeding to IVF with donor sperm or to AID. If there is no male factor the oestradiol curve does not make it possible to foresee a failure of cleavage and it is necessary to carry out a second IVF cycle to handle these couples.
Renal transplantation has changed completely the fertility of women who had been dialysed. Our study is on 10 pregnancies which we followed up in 7 women who had had renal transplants in the University Hospital of Pitié Salpêtrière (Professor Y. Darbois) between 1979 and 1985. All patients were treated by the same technique and the same methods of prevention of rejection of the transplant. The mean interval between the transplant and pregnancy was 53 months. In 3 cases there was hypertension and raised creatinine levels (more than 150 in 3 cases). In 2 cases the two conditions were associated. The prognosis is bad when a raised blood pressure or a change in renal function occurs before pregnancy starts, leading to a real deterioration in renal function during the pregnancy when such function was abnormal before the pregnancy started. As far as the infants were concerned, the most common complication was IUGR (intrauterine growth retardation) which was found in half of all cases. Blood flow studies in these fetuses are particularity interesting. There were two cases of intra-uterine fetal death. The reasons for these were not necessarily connected with the deterioration in renal function. All the deliveries were by caesarean section, for medical reasons in 7 out of 10 cases. The average duration of the pregnancy was 35 weeks of amenorrhoea. As far as the mothers were concerned, they did not have more infections than other women in spite of being immuno-suppressed (this was excluding urinary tract infections).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The introduction of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogs into treatment schemes for the stimulation of ovulation has enabled the authors' in vitro fertilization (IVF) team to overcome two problems; they can now suppress spontaneous LH peaks and program their activity. Two hundred and five IVF cycles were investigated. The agent used was D-Trp-6-LH-RH, either in a sustained release formulation (112 cases, group 1) or in a standard form (93 cases, group 2). The quantity of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) necessary for adequate ovarian stimulation was much lower when the standard form of the analog was used. The number of oocytes recovered per puncture was greater in group 1 (7.6 compared with 5.1), but the difference was not significant when considering the number of embryos (2.4 compared with 2.1). The corrected pregnancy rate (with allowance for progressive introduction of freezing from the third embryo onwards) was identical in both groups. The authors conclude that systems in which LH-RH analogs are employed have a clear advantage over the classical treatment with clomiphene citrate/hMG, and that the immediate-action formulation of D-Trp-6-LH-RH is preferable.
This work is a report on the follow-up of 50 pregnant epileptic women who were looked after in the Gynaecological and Obstetric Service of La Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris. These patients had a generalised form of the disease. Well controlled patients usually had simple pregnancies. On the other hand half of those who had frequent attacks were worse during the pregnancy. It is rare for complications to occur either in the mothers or the neonates. The element that is most serious is the risk of malformation, which is three times as great whatever treatment is used and it does seem to increase according to the number of attacks occurring during the pregnancy. It therefore seems important that all epileptics should be stabilised before each pregnancy and medication should be given and controlled. It is important all the same that these are at-risk pregnancies that require clinical and ultrasound supervision.
The results of 108 attempts to deliver women who had previously had caesarean sections vaginally under epidural analgesia are studied. 94 patients (87%) delivered vaginally taking the usual length of time for dilatation and delivery. These confirm that epidural analgesia does not alter the prognosis for this type of delivery. However, one uterus unfortunately ruptured with the rapid death of the baby. This study makes it possible to define certain rules that should be carried out to lessen or even get rid completely of the risk of these accidents. As far as the anaesthetic is concerned, epidural analgesia should be carried out and watched very carefully. Small doses of anesthetics should be used and those in low concentrations. Symmetry analgesia should be good. Medics should be aware of the cumulative effect of adding dose on dose. Finally, morphine or morphine-like substances should either be used carefully or forbidden altogether. These precautions will limit the quantities of epidural analgesics that are delivered and assure that there is symmetry so that it is easier to recognize the signs before rupture of the uterus. As far as the obstetrical side is concerned, although we did not use oxytocics very often (37%) we did not find that there was any risk attached to it. We recommend, however, that internal monitoring should be carried out very often whether oxytocics are used or not. Routinely, instruments should be used for the delivery to lessen the efforts required to expel the baby. Exploring the cavity of the uterus after the delivery does not seem to us to be necessary unless there are the usual obstetric indications for doing this.
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141 patients who had lesions caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) in the vulva and vagina (63 cases) or in the cervix (78 cases) were routinely treated solely by using CO2 laser. The lesions were vaporized when they were localised to the perineum and in certain selected cases in the cervix after they had been examined colposcopically and had biopsies taken. We resorted to conisation when lesions were not completely visible or when they were associated with CIN III (severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ). Vulvo-vaginal condylomata present with certain characteristics: the infected population is young (a mean age of 27), most (81%) have diffuse forms of the condition, of the partners examined 68% were contaminated. Association with flat cervical lesions with or without dysplasia is not rare (18% of cases). Finally, treatment using only CO2 laser seems to us to be disappointing: only 55% were cured after one treatment and 84% after repeated treatments. When the condylomatous lesions on the cervix were flat we found an associated intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) in 66% of cases. In these cases the mean age of the patients was 28 years when these were pure viral lesions and 33 years of age when there was an associated dysplasia. Here the results after laser treatment can be considered as satisfactory because they were respectively 97 and 94% of cures whether the lesions had or did not have dysplasia. On the other hand, in our series the junction between pavement and cylindrical cells was always visible after treatment with the laser, and that made it easy to follow up these patients.
413 menstrual cycles were monitored in the first two years of the work of the In-Vitro Fertilization Unit in La Pitié-Salpêtrière. On-going pregnancies were achieved from the very first months of activity, with a level which stayed relatively constant in the first year. Technical changes were introduced and in particular a higher recovery rate of oocytes when ultrasound was used and above all when LH-RH analogues were used in the process of stimulation. It is this last point that seems to be the most interesting. In fact, when the results are examined there is a definite rise in the number of on-going pregnancies of which the level went up by 2.3 times as compared with using a classical protocol of Clomithene citrate and HMG. In the 153 cycles when D-Trp6 LH-RH was used, the percentage of on-going pregnancies was 13.7% for each cycle and 20% for embryo implants. Furthermore, it became possible to work out the dates for the patients and this appears to us essential as the numbers of couples attending increase.
The authors report the results of four IVF attempts, performed on the same couple, in 16 months, because of tubal problems. June 1985 (T1): spontaneous miscarriage after 8 weeks of amenorrhea; october 1985 (T2): negative tap; january 1986 (T3): extra-uterine pregnancy; october 1986 (T4): rejected because of "poor response" and spontaneous extra-uterine pregnancy during the same cycle.
Thirty-three cases of obstetrical paralysis of the brachial plexus have been seen in 15 years in the gynaecological and obstetrical department of the University Hospital Pitié Salpêtrière. The authors, from studying these cases, work out the factors that tend to bring about this pathological condition. They are: multiparity, excessive weight gain in pregnancy, fetal excessive growth, prolonged second stage of labour, instrumental delivery and shoulder dystocia in cephalic presentations. In breech presentations it is mainly faulty performance of the manoeuvres that are needed to deliver the shoulders. These lesions involve, in most cases, the roots of C5 and C6. Spontaneous regression occurs very often. The authors have found 25% of sequellae. It is difficult to prevent shoulder dystocia. It consists in realising well the size of the fetus and using instruments really sensibly when the presenting part is high in a primiparous woman. In a multiparous woman one has to be on the look-out for increasing macrosomia of the fetus and it is important to teach the manoeuvres that are necessary to deal with shoulder dystocia. As far as breech delivery is concerned the major risk is the delivery itself without there being any need for fetal or maternal criteria to alter matters. Therefore prevention in this presentation has to be the presence of a competent obstetrician at each delivery always.
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This experiment investigates CO2-laser-induced histological effects on fallopian tubes obtained during hysterectomies in women. Tubal transversal sections were performed at isthmic and ampullar sites. Forty strips were available for histological study of the cut section area. The role of different parameters such as radiation power and beam fractionation (continuous versus pulsed) on tissue lesions was assessed. In tubal microsurgery, the CO2 laser can be used as a scalpel with the predominant advantage of minimal tissular alterations. As a result of this study, our recommended parameters are the following: radiation power, 7-10 W; beam focalization zone, 0.2 mm; energy density, 20,000-35,000 W/cm2; continuous operation; moving speed, 1 cm/s.
Gn RH analogues seemed to us to be very useful in in-vitro fertilisation. They make it easier to programme oocyte recovery. They avoid an endogenous surge of LH, and they particularly seemed to increase significantly the percentage of pregnancies that continue after embryo transfer.