A new device for creating and positioning an autogenous cartilage framework during microtia reconstruction.

Objective: This paper describes the fabrication and use of a three-dimensional appliance, known as the microtia surgical positioner, to more accurately position and better sculpt the autogenous rib cartilage graft during microtia reconstruction.

Study Design: The authors introduce a new device design and surgical application.

Methods: An impression and plaster cast were made from the patient's auricular defect.

Primary hyperparathyroidism in an adult female olive baboon (Papio anubis).

During an annual physical examination, a middle-aged adult female olive baboon (Papio anubis) in the time-mated breeding colony at the Biologic Resources Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago was found to have a high serum calcium value (> 12 mg/dl). To determine the cause of the hypercalcemia, additional diagnostic tests, including thoracic and abdominal radiographs and a parathyroid panel (parathyroid hormone (PTH), ionized calcium, and parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTH-rp) assays), were performed. The radiographs did not reveal lesions suggestive of neoplasia.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor presenting with tracheal obstruction in a pregnant woman.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT), also known as inflammatory pseudotumor, is a benign lesion predominantly found in the lung and abdomen. Sporadic cases have been reported in the trunk, genitourinary tract, and extremities as well as in the head and neck. Of critical importance is this entity's correct histopathologic diagnosis that differentiate it from malignant neoplasms such as spindle cell carcinoma and fibrosarcoma, benign tumors such as neurofibroma, and other pseudoneoplastic lesions such as nodular fasciitis.