Anosmia after intranasal zinc gluconate use.

Background: Zinc is an essential mineral. Beneficial zinc absorption takes place via enteral, parenteral, or cutaneous routes. However, direct application to the olfactory epithelium has been reported to cause loss of smell.

Detection of occult cervical micrometastases in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer.

Objective: The incidence of occult nodal metastases associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and the clinical significance of nodal micrometastases by cytokeratin immunohistochemical analysis are examined.

Study Design: In all, 1012 lymph nodes from 50 patients treated between 1992 and 2001 at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Denver, CO) were evaluated retrospectively for micrometastases.

Methods: Serial sectioning in 5-to 6-microm interval specimens stained either with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) or immunostaining for cytokeratins using the monoclonal antibody cocktail AE1/AE3 was performed in 21 N0, 11 N1, and 14 N2 patient cases.

Biopsies of human olfactory epithelium.

It has been shown that olfactory epithelium can be safely biopsied from the living, intact human being. Observations of the ultrastructure of this epithelium shows changes that can then be correlated with the etiology and degree of olfactory loss, allowing a greater understanding of both normal transduction and of the pathology of dysfunction. Examples of the common forms of olfactory dysfunction are presented and discussed.