Primary malignant lymphomas of the breast (PBL) are uncommon. The authors report the clinical, histologic, and immunoperoxidase findings on 20 cases recorded at the Alberta Cancer Registry over the last 23 years. These cases were then added to material on 257 cases abstracted from the literature and analyzed. It was found that there are two clinicopathologic types of PBL. The first affects pregnant or lactating women with bilateral, diffuse disease, is rapidly fatal, and corresponds histologically to a Burkitt's-type lymphoma. The second is unilateral at presentation and afflicts a broad age range, but primarily older women. This has a variable course only part of which is predicted by histologic grade and stage. Tumor size, treatment, and side of presentation were not found to be significant prognostic factors. Histologically, these tumors can be grouped into large cell B-cell lymphomas, monocytoid B-cell lymphomas (MBCL), and undifferentiated, some of which may be T-cell. Evidence suggesting that the MBCL of breast are the equivalent of the malignant lymphomas of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT) is reviewed. The breast is a hormone-dependent member of the MALT and therefore it is interesting that two of these tumors were strongly positive for estrogen receptors.

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A retrospective evaluation of radionuclide liver and spleen scintigraphy (LS), ultrasonography (US), and computed tomography (CT) was performed in 88 patients who had pathologically proven cutaneous melanoma. In patients who had all three examinations (n = 24), the matrix analysis showed that CT was significantly more sensitive (0.94) in detecting intra-abdominal metastasis when compared to US (0.62, P less than 0.05) and LS (0.38, P less than 0.01). Sixty-four patients had only US and LS studies. In this group of patients US was found to be more sensitive than LS, 0.88 and 0.54 respectively (P less than 0.01). Furthermore, when CT was compared with US, CT was shown to detect metastases significantly earlier than US (P = 0.03). Overall, CT provided the most accurate means for detecting the intra-abdominal metastases of cutaneous melanoma.

Topical N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) was studied as a schistosomiasis prophylactic in vivo for the use of individuals with limited exposure. Fifteen subjects, on a 3-week expedition to Lake Malawi in September 2001, applied 50% DEET to their skin after exposure to lake water. No subjects developed evidence of a new infection at 3-month follow-up.