Intraoperative Real-Time Image-Guided Fibular Harvest and Mandibular Reconstruction: A Feasibility Study on Cadaveric Specimens.

Background: This study assesses the feasibility of real-time surgical navigation to plan and guide sequential steps during mandible reconstruction on a series of cadaveric specimens.

Methods: An image-guided surgical (IGS) system was designed including customized mandible and fibula fixation devices with navigation reference frames and an accompanied image-guided software. The mandibular and fibular segmental osteotomies were performed using the IGS in all five cadaveric patients.

Outcomes of Radial Forearm Free Flap Closure With Split-Thickness Skin Graft Versus Primary Closure.

Background: This study compares patient-reported functional and aesthetic outcomes of split-thickness skin graft (STSG) versus hatchet flap closure of radial forearm free flap (RFFF) donor site.

Methods: Patients with RFFF (2015-2020) were retrospectively identified. Those willing to participate in patient-reported outcomes (PRO) filled out Patient-Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and Michigan Hand Outcome Questionnaire (MHOQ).

Familial Occurrence of Isolated Late-onset Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction in Two Unrelated Families.

Late-onset nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO) as a result of inflammatory processes causing dacryo-stenosis is a common entity affecting mostly women. While a few mechanisms have been suggested as contributors to the expression of NLDO, the trigger for the inflammation remains mostly unknown. Familial predilection for this condition has not been previously reported.

The Significance of Bell's Palsy That Presents as Monocranial Versus Polycranial Neuropathy: A Case Series and Systematic Literature Review.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Bell's palsy (BP) presenting as polycranial neuropathy (PCN) compared with BP caused by isolated facial nerve (CNVII).

Methods: We carried out a retrospective cohort study of the medical records of all consecutive patients who were diagnosed with BP at a single tertiary referral center between 2010 and 2017. Included were patients 18 years or older who were clinically diagnosed with BP and completed 7 days of systemic steroidal treatment and at least 6 months of follow-up.

Rates of Malignancy in Cytology Indeterminate Thyroid Nodules: A Single Center Surgical Series.

Background: Due to the high variability in malignancy rate among cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules (Bethesda categories III-V), the American Thyroid Association recommends that each center define its own categorical cancer risk.

Objectives: To assess cancer risk in patients with cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules who were operated at our center.

Methods: In a retrospective study, we analyzed the pathology results of all the patients whose fine needle aspiration results showed Bethesda III-V cytology and who subsequently underwent total thyroidectomy or lobectomy from December 2013 to September 2017.

Limitations of ultrasound in predicting bilaterality vs unilaterality of well-differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of ultrasonography in the differentiation of a bilateral and a unilateral WDTC to help physicians decide on performing a total or a partial thyroidectomy.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective chart review of all patients diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma following a total thyroidectomy or a complete thyroidectomy between January 2013 and December 2015 at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in Soroka University Medical Center in southern Israel. The preoperative ultrasound images of the thyroid were compared to the final pathology in the contralateral lobe.

Repression of AXL expression by AP-1/JNK blockage overcomes resistance to PI3Ka therapy.

AXL overexpression is a common resistance mechanism to anti-cancer therapies, including the resistance to BYL719 (Alpelisib) - the p110α isoform specific inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) - in esophagus and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC, HNSCC respectively). However, the mechanisms underlying AXL overexpression in resistance to BYL719 remain elusive. Here we demonstrated that the AP-1 transcription factors, c-JUN and c-FOS, regulate AXL overexpression in HNSCC and ESCC.

Tumor Tissue Explant Culture of Patient-Derived Xenograft as Potential Prioritization Tool for Targeted Therapy.

Despite of remarkable progress made in the head and neck cancer (HNC) therapy, the survival rate of this metastatic disease remain low. Tailoring the appropriate therapy to patients is a major challenge and highlights the unmet need to have a good preclinical model that will predict clinical response. Hence, we developed an accurate and time efficient drug screening method of tumor analysis (TEVA) system, which can predict patient-specific drug responses.

Acute otitis media in infants younger than two months of age: Epidemiologic and microbiologic characteristics in the era of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

Objectives: To evaluate the epidemiology, microbiology, Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes distribution and serious bacterial infections (SBIs) occurrence in infants <2 months of age with tympanocentesis-documented acute otitis media (AOM), before and after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs).

Methods: The medical records of all hospitalized infants with AOM who underwent tympanocentesis during 2005-2014 were reviewed.

Results: Of the 303 infants with AOM who were diagnosed by an ENT specialist, 182 underwent tympanocentesis, 92 during 2005-2009 (prevaccine period) and 90 during 2010-2014 (postvaccine period).

Necrotizing Otitis Externa-Analysis of 83 Cases: Clinical Findings and Course of Disease.

Objectives: Evaluate the relationship between clinical findings and course of disease among patients with necrotizing otitis externa (NOE).

Study Design: Retrospective case series review.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Seasonal changes in serum calcium, PTH and vitamin D levels in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Background: Seasonal variations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, PTH and calcium levels are not well characterized in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Our objectives were to characterize seasonal changes in these parameters in PHPT patients, and to assess whether these seasonal changes affect clinical decision making.

Methods: This is a retrospective study based on the electronic medical records of Clalit Health service in the south of Israel between 2000 and 2012.

Fetal safety of macrolides.

Macrolide antibiotics are largely used in pregnancy for different bacterial infections. Their fetal safety has been studied by several groups, yielding opposing results. In particular, there have been studies claiming an association between macrolides and cardiovascular malformations.