Oral cancer in India, a growing problem: Is limiting the exposure to avoidable risk factors the only way to reduce the disease burden?

Cancer represents an uncontrolled growth of cells that invade and cause damage to the adjacent tissues. Globally oral cancer ranks as the sixth most common type of cancer. As compared to the west, the problem of oral cancer is significantly higher in India.

The spiral ladder technique of facial nerve trunk identification during parotidectomy: A convenient roadmap for the beginners.

The intricate relationship between the facial nerve and the parotid gland makes the surgeries involving the gland challenging. Though several landmarks have been described to locate the nerve trunk, variations do exist due to the physical and racial characteristics of an individual. The spiral ladder technique described here uses multiple landmarks that appear in a stepwise manner as a beginner proceeds through the surgery as a road map to the nerve trunk.

Does SLNB substitute END in the future with the sole advantage of preventing shoulder morbidity?

SLNB has emerged as a rational proposition in the management of early-stage oral cancer and has mixed responses within the oncological community. It is high time for the clinicians to look into the fact that, when a patient post-surgery has a regional recurrence within 6 months, it could be reasonable to believe that a tumor seed which was earlier an isolated tumor cell (ITC) or in the form of a micro-metastasis (MM) would have led to this. SLNB has the potential to become a standard of care in the future owing to the development and utility of better evaluation tools to pick nodal metastasis.

The impact of positive resection margins on survival requires further study?

Squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity is usually treated by surgery followed by adjuvant treatment. In most standard cancer institutions, margin analysis is a key barometer for measuring the quality of surgical resection. Many studies reported that positive margins have at least a 50% reduction in the overall survival.

Do Regional Nerve Blocks Before Bimaxillary Surgery Reduce Postoperative Pain?

Purpose: Any elective surgery should be as atraumatic to the patient as possible to allow for a comfortable postoperative recovery. The present study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative regional blocks in reducing pain, discomfort, and analgesic use in patients scheduled to undergo bimaxillary surgery.

Patients And Methods: A prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted to include all patients aged 16 to 30 years requiring bimaxillary surgery.