Faculty Bibliography

The hormone dependence and the prognosis of human breast cancers are currently based on assays of the estrogen receptor (RE) and progesterone receptor (RP) in the tumor. However, such prediction can not be fully accurate: RE may be non functional in some tumors and the estrogenic regulation of RP is not directly correlated with the effects of estrogens on cell growth. Here we described other estrogen induced intracellular, secreted or membrane proteins. Investigations of these proteins should allow a better understanding of the mechanisms by which estrogens stimulate the growth and spreading of breast cancer. Some secreted proteins could even be useful as circulatory markers of hormone dependence

Spontaneous resolution of thrombosis of the systemic arteries is a rarely documented phenomenon. Two patients are described in whom thrombus within the popliteal artery was noted to lyse spontaneously. This resulted in a decrease in ischemic symptoms and was documented by angiography. The spontaneous improvement that occurs in some patients with atherosclerotic femoropopliteal disease may be due to this mechanism as well as to increased flow via collateral vessels

The technical feasibility and rejection characteristics of intrafamilial fox-to-dog xenografts were studied. The results indicate that (1) both lungs of a smaller donor can be successfully transplanted into a single hemithorax of a larger recipient, (2) fox-to-dog lung xenografts are capable of providing total pulmonary function at tolerable right ventricular pressures, and (3) the rejection process of unmodified intrafamilial lung xenografts, was similar to and not more vigorous or more rapid than that of canine lung allografts in untreated recipients

In a series of 148 polytetrafluoroethylene femoropopliteal bypasses performed for limb salvage, 33-month life-table cumulative patency rates for grafts inserted into an isolated popliteal artery segment (91% +/- 5%) were not significantly different from those inserted into a popliteal segment with angiographically better runoff (78% +/- 5%). Similarly, below-knee reconstructions had 3-year patency rates (86% +/- 6%) that were not significantly different from those for bypasses inserted into the popliteal artery above the knee (79% +/- 6%). One clear disadvantage of the isolated popliteal artery segment as a site for distal insertion of the bypass was the increased incidence of limb loss despite a patent reconstruction. This was particularly frequent in diabetics with extensive foot gangrene or infection and could be avoided by a secondary extension of the bypass to a patent distal leg or foot artery