Allergy History and Immunotherapy Response in Patients With Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objective: This study examines the association between patient-reported allergy history and immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) response in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (RMHNSCC).

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic tertiary care hospital.

Tumor Histological Grade and Immunotherapy Response in Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Importance: Tumor histological factors that predict immunotherapy response in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are not well defined.

Objective: To investigate the association between tumor grade and immunotherapy response in patients with recurrent or metastatic mucosal HNSCC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this retrospective cohort study, the medical records of 60 patients with recurrent or metastatic mucosal HNSCC treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors at Johns Hopkins Hospital between July 1, 2015, and January 22, 2020, were reviewed.

Nutritional Status as a Predictive Biomarker for Immunotherapy Outcomes in Advanced Head and Neck Cancer.

The association between pretreatment nutritional status and immunotherapy response in patients with advanced head and neck cancer is unclear. We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 99 patients who underwent treatment with anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibodies (or both) for stage IV HNSCC between 2014 and 2020 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Patient demographics and clinical characteristics were retrieved from electronic medical records.

Neoadjuvant immunotherapy prior to surgery for mucosal head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Systematic review.

Given the recent successes of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, many clinical trials have sought to assess the safety and efficacy of this treatment modality in the neoadjuvant setting. This systematic review provides a comprehensive summary of findings from neoadjuvant head and neck cancer immunotherapy clinical trials with a focus on PD-1/PD-L1 axis blockade. Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and clinicaltrials.

Association of Tumor Site With the Prognosis and Immunogenomic Landscape of Human Papillomavirus-Related Head and Neck and Cervical Cancers.

Importance: Human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive status in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is associated with improved survival compared with HPV-negative status. However, it remains controversial whether HPV is associated with improved survival among patients with nonoropharyngeal and cervical squamous cell tumors.

Objective: To investigate differences in the immunogenomic landscapes of HPV-associated tumors across anatomical sites (the head and neck and the cervix) and their association with survival.

Programmed Death-1/Programmed Death-Ligand 1-Axis Blockade in Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Stratified by Human Papillomavirus Status: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors have provided clinical benefit to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients in recent clinical trials. However, it remains unclear as to whether human papillomavirus (HPV) status is associated with improved clinical outcome of anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy in HNSCC.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were systematically searched up to February 28, 2021.

Transoral versus Transcervical Drainage of Pharyngeal Abscesses in Children: Post-Operative Complications.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to compare complications and other perioperative outcomes between intraoral and transcervical drainage of both retropharyngeal and parapharyngeal abscesses.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective study that analyzed data from the 2012 to 2016 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)-Pediatric public use files. Baseline characteristics and perioperative outcomes including postoperative complications and length of hospital stay (LOS) were compared between intraoral and transcervical drainage groups.

Proteomic analysis of hypopharyngeal and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma sheds light on differences in survival.

The link between differences in molecular expression and survival among advanced laryngeal (LSCC) and hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma (HPSCC) remains unclear. Here, we applied the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, Isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) with Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) proteomics data and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) related data to discover the possible disparities between HPSCC and LSCC. Our results showed a significantly worse 5-year overall-survival in HPSCC compared with LSCC before and after adjusting for clinical parameters.

An Immunogenomic Investigation of Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Patients Aged 45 Years and Younger.

Objectives/hypothesis: To investigate differences in the immunogenomic landscape among young patients presenting with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC).

Study Design: Retrospective database review.

Methods: Normalized messenger mRNA expression data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer prevalence in a middle eastern population using E6/E7 PCR.

Background: Given the paucity of data and widely variable rates that have been reported, the main objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of HPV-positivity in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) in Middle Eastern patients presenting to one of the region's largest tertiary care centers using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the HPV E6/E7 oncogenes, a highly sensitive and specific method of detection.

Methods: Medical charts and archived pathological specimens were obtained for patients diagnosed with biopsy proven oropharyngeal cancer who presented to the American University of Beirut Medical Center between 1972 and 2017. DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded specimens and tested for 30 high-risk and low-risk papilloma viruses using the PCR-based EUROarray HPV kit (EuroImmun).

Drain placement in thyroidectomy is associated with longer hospital stay without preventing hematoma.

Objective: To analyze the effect of drain placement on postoperative hematoma formation and other associated outcomes post-thyroid surgery in a large national cohort.

Methods: This was a retrospective study that analyzed data from the 2016-2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) public use files. Baseline characteristics and perioperative outcomes were compared between drain and no drain cohorts.

A Patient With a Protuberant Fibro-Osseous Lesion of the Temporal Bone.

Protuberant fibro-osseous lesion of the temporal bone, otherwise known as "Bullough's lesion", is a rare, benign exophytic fibro-osseous tumor. In this brief report, we present a case of a 61-year-old woman with a history of a right-sided skull mass that had been increasing in size for approximately 6 years before presentation. Clinical, radiological and histological features are examined and discussed.

The prognostic impact of pathologic lymph nodes in HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers.

Purpose: Recent pathologic staging of HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) is solely dependent on number of pathologic nodes. Using a large dataset, we aimed to understand how increase in pathologic lymph nodes (LN) associated with overall survival.

Materials And Methods: National Cancer Database was queried for HPV-positive OPSCC patients undergoing primary surgery with LN dissection between 2010 and 2013.

Assessing the referral of clients with respiratory symptoms to general physicians: a survey of community pharmacists in Beirut.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess the ability of community pharmacists practicing in Beirut to identify red flag respiratory symptoms, and therefore to adequately refer clients to a general physician when warranted. Secondary objectives included determining whether demographic factors affect the odds of referral, and to qualify degree of agreement of community pharmacists with a panel of expert physicians.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, pharmacies were randomly selected and invited to complete a self-administered survey, each containing 10 clinical vignettes that combined different characteristics (age group, gender, presenting symptom, duration of symptoms).

Nasal Basal Cell Carcinoma with Matrical Differentiation: Risk of Metastasis and Impact on Management.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of skin cancer. Microscopically, BCC can be classified into indolent-growth and aggressive-growth subtypes. Additionally, uncommon variants have been described in the literature including adamantinoid, granular, clear cell, and BCC with matrical differentiation (BCCMD).

Mandibular melanotic neuroectodermal tumor of infancy: a role for neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Melanotic Neuroectodermal Tumor of Infancy (MNTI) is a rare, locally aggressive neoplasm with a predilection for the head and neck area, most commonly occurring in the maxilla. The vast majority of treatment modalities for all cases of MNTI to date have involved surgical intervention only, with just 9.6 % involving some sort of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of the prior mentioned modalities.