Primary parapharyngeal tumours: a review of 21 cases.

Background: The diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in a series of patients with primary parapharyngeal space (PPS) tumours treated at the ENT Departments of San Giovanni Bosco Hospital, Turin, and of the Pugliese-Ciaccio Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy, in the period 2001-2010 are evaluated.

Materials And Methods: The retrospective review included 20 patients, 11 male and 9 female, average age of 41 years operated on for 21 primary PPS tumours. The most common tumours found were neurogenic neoplasms, while those of salivary origin were the next most common.

[Benefit of skull vibration-induced nystagmus test in occupational medicine].

Background: Nystagmus induced by vibrations (NIV), has been optimized by the present authors this last decade. The skull vibration-induced nystagmus test (SVINT) can be designated as a high-frequency global "vestibular Weber test" and can be considered as an office-based examination to detect vestibular asymmetry. The aim of this study is to define the tolerance of the SVINT as well as its comparison to the simplified caloric test of Veits (CTV) in normal workers during the pre-employment visit at the occupational medicine center.

[Proposal of entering the mastoid vibration test in health surveillance of workers exposed to industrial solvents].

In view of the use of solvents and consequently the number of exposed subjects, health surveillance should include instrumental exams to highlight at an early stage alterations of health resulting from exposure. We evaluated 40 workers with chronic exposure to low-level xylene, toluene, fluorene and anthracene, showing that vestibular system was altered in a fair percentage of cases, compared to a control group characterized by 40 workers of the same age not exposed to solvents. The two groups were simultaneously exposed to noise.

Management of head and neck paragangliomas: a series of 9 cases and review of the literature.

We conducted a retrospective study of the long-term functional results of surgery for head and neck paragangliomas. Our study population was made up of 9 patients--4 men and 5 women, aged 22 to 59 years (mean: 46.6; median: 51)--who had undergone surgical excision of a head and neck paraganglioma from January 2002 through December 2006 in the ENT Department at Pugliese-Ciaccio Hospital in Catanzaro, Italy.

Apheresis as rescue therapy in a severe case of sudden hearing loss.

A 23-year-old man complained of progressive left ear hearing loss and tinnitus and was unsuccessfully treated with steroids and mannitol. Four months later he presented with sudden, severe, asymmetrical, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The results of the laboratory workup were normal except for antinuclear autoantibodies.

[Multimodal distraction to relieve pain in children undergoing acute medical procedures].

Objective: Non-pharmacological approaches to pain management have been used by therapists for decades to reduce the anxiety and pain experienced by children during burn care procedures. With a greater understanding of pain and the principles behind what causes a child to be distracted, combined with access to state of the art technology, we have developed an easy to use, hand held multimodal distraction device (MMD). MMD is an interactive device that prepares the child for a procedure and uses developmentally appropriate distraction stories and games during the procedures to alleviate anxiety and pain.

Multi-modal distraction. Using technology to combat pain in young children with burn injuries.

Background: The use of non-pharmacological pain management remains adhoc within acute paediatric burns pain management protocols despite ongoing acknowledgement of its role. Advancements in adult based pain services including the integration of virtual reality has been adapted to meet the needs of children in pain, as exemplified by the development of multi-modal distraction (MMD). This easy to use, hand held interactive device uses customized programs designed to inform the child about the procedure he/she is about to experience and to distract the child during dressing changes.

The emergence of multi-modal distraction as a paediatric pain management tool.

The emergence of Multi Modal Distraction (MMD) has occurred following appraisal of the developmental and clinical concerns surrounding Virtual Reality's (VR) applicability to pediatric pain management. MMD was developed to expand current distraction tools and technology available for pain management in the pediatric population. This paper will examine how the challenges faced by VR have motivated the collaborative design and development process of MMD.

The efficacy of an augmented virtual reality system to alleviate pain in children undergoing burns dressing changes: a randomised controlled trial.

In children, the pain and anxiety associated with acute burn dressing changes can be severe, with drug treatment alone frequently proving to be inadequate. Virtual reality (VR) systems have been successfully trialled in limited numbers of adult and paediatric burn patients. Augmented reality (AR) differs from VR in that it overlays virtual images onto the physical world, instead of creating a complete virtual world.

Palatine tonsils in smoker and non-smoker patients: a pilot clinicopathological and ultrastructural study.

Background: Tobacco smoke is a well-known source of toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic agents. The aim of the present preliminary study was to investigate the effects of cigarette smoking on lymphoid and non-lymphoid tonsillar tissue.

Methods: The study group consisted of 12 smoker and 10 non-smoker patients complaining recurrent tonsillitis.

Wegener's granulomatosis presenting with otologic and neurologic symptoms: clinical and pathological correlations.

A case of Wegener's granulomatosis in a 59-year-old woman is reported. The disease first involved the parotid gland, the brain stem and the spinal cord, then running a rapidly progressive course as systemic pathology. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (cANCA) levels raised as renal failure set in.

Internal carotid artery transposition as risk factor in pharyngeal surgery.

Objective/hypothesis: Injuries to the internal carotid artery during simple pharyngeal surgical procedures can be catastrophic for the risk of massive bleeding. The aims of the study were 1) to report five cases of congenital and asymptomatic anomalies of the internal carotid artery with a review of the literature, 2) to assess the relationships between these anomalies and the possible risk in "routine" pharyngeal surgery, and 3) to determine the most accurate imaging techniques to evaluate these anomalies.

Study Design: Retrospective study of five patients with congenital anomalies of the internal carotid artery bulging the pharyngeal wall.

Primary adenocarcinoma of the arytenoid: an ultrastructural study.

Primary adenocarcinoma of the larynx is a rare neoplasm that tends to spread to both regional lymph nodes and distant sites. A case of primary adenocarcinoma of the arytenoid in a 74-year-old man is presented. The tumor was evaluated by light and electron microscopy.

[Epistaxis: emergency treatment approach].

After a brief summary of the causes of severe epistaxis and the surgical choices available for treatment, the authors present their own cases study. Starting from a brief description of the anatomy involved in the system of arterial irrigation of the nasal cavities, they focus on two fundamental concepts: the basis for a proper topographic picture of the site of bleeding and the success of surgery. First and foremost is the emergence of two arterial branches from the sphenopalatine formen; this differs from what is asserted in the classical treatise on anatomy and in line with what has been stated in the Nomina Anatomica, approved during the X World Congress on Anatomy (Tokyo 1975).

[Description of a particular case of the so-called Schmincke lymphoepithelioma and study of the correlation with Epstein-Barr virus].

For poorly differentiated rhinopharyngeal carcinomas, the clinical presentation (association with the Epstein-Barr virus, paraneoplastic syndromes, onset of lymphoma) and the histopathological features can be polymorphous and they can confound or delay diagnosis and preparation of an adequate treatment plan (radio-chemotherapy). Often these neoplasms arise as clinically primitive laterocervical metastases, masked by clinical findings and a history that can lead to the mistaken diagnosis of systemic lymphoproliferative processes such as Hodgkin's disease. Here an observation of this type is presented in a young patient (19 years old) who came under observation for a laterocervical tumefaction recurrent from a previous exeresis performed at another hospital and symptoms of serotine febricula, dysphagia and serology positive for the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

[Choanal atresia: personal surgical technique].

Choanal atresia is a rare otorhinolaryngological pathology. It occurs in 1 out of 5,000 children born alive and can be associated with other major or minor congenital abnormalities. The most important associations go under the acronym of C.

Midfacial granuloma syndrome or an inflammatory non-specific disease? A case report.

We report a case of idiopathic midline destructive disease in a 57-year-old man. The patient had a non-specific histological pattern in biopsies obtained from the nose and upper lip, characterized by a granulomatous reaction with progressive destruction of the tissues. The patient's general medical history was non-contributory.

[Biphasic hypopharyngeal synovial sarcoma: ultrastructural, cytofluorometric and immunohistochemical study and brief review of the literature].

Synovial sarcomas account for 7-10% of all soft tissue malignancies and the rare head and neck region location accounts for an average 5% of them. A brief review of the data in the Literature has shown that not more than one hundred cases of cervical-facial synovial sarcoma have been reported. In the head and neck locations this form of tumor is significantly less aggressive, with a higher survival rate and a recurrence rate much lower than the 60-70% shown for other locations in the limbs.

[Laryngeal tuberculosis: considerations on the most recent clinical and epidemiological data and presentation of a case report].

According to the "Global Tuberculosis Control" performed in 1999--the third complete, international, global report on tuberculosis infection--173 countries reported their infection data to the WHO; of these countries 102 met the criteria for "DOTS programs" at the end of 1997. The DOTS programs are the only control strategy able to produce a cure rate of 85%. Both at the national and international (Centers of Disease Control) levels, guidelines have been drawn up to improve and coordinate the fight against tuberculosis.

[Upper maxillary cysts: embryogenic and surgical considerations in our cases].

Upper maxillary cysts are a chapter in otorhinolaryngological pathology which have been relatively neglected by the Literature. The reason for this most likely lies in the difficulty in producing a nosographic picture of these pathologies which border on other surgical fields (dentistry, maxillofacial surgery), and because they show significant clinical and etiopathogenic polymorphism. The elements that characterize upper maxillary cysts as a separate clinical entity are basically their cystic nature and origin within the upper maxillary bone, although they can expand widely within the medio-facial region (nasal vestibule, oral vestibule, nasolabial region, palate, maxillary sinus).

[Morphological study of the palatine tonsils: clinical and histopathological considerations].

This study examined 71 pediatric tonsillectomy patients through accurate case history and clinical examination, placing particular emphasis on pathologies concomitant to tonsillopathy. In an attempt to find anatomo-clinical correlations, these data were processed together with the results of a histomorphological study of thetonsil epithelium, performed on all tonsillectomy samples. The majority of these patients were females and none more than 13 years of age.

[Benign extracranial cervical-facial schwannomas: anatomo-clinical and diagnostic considerations on our case reports and review of literature].

Schwannoma is a rare neoplasm in the E.N.T.

The body cell mass and altered protein energy metabolism in cystic fibrosis.

To further investigate the body cell mass (BCM) in CF, as the central metabolically active body compartment, and to determine if measures used as reference standards after comparative differences in protein energy metabolism, BCM was measured by K40 analysis (n= 144 CF, 69 M, 71 F, ages 0.3-17 years) related to age and gender control date (n=1478). Protein synthesis was studied by whole body C13 leucine kinetics (LSYN, n=10 well nourished vs 7 undernourished CFs matched for Ht, Sex and FEV1).

Measured versus predicted resting energy expenditure in infants: a need for reappraisal.

The reliability of commonly used predictive equations for estimating energy expenditure in infants in both health and disease was assessed by comparing resting energy expenditure (REE, measured by indirect calorimetry) in relation to weight, height, and body cell mass (by total body potassium analysis) with predictive equations (Harris-Benedict, Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization/United Nations University (FAO/WHO/UNU), Schofield weight-only, and Schofield weight-and-height equations) in 36 healthy infants (age 0.43 +/- 0.27 years; 19 male) and in 9 infants with cystic fibrosis (age 0.