A case of carcinoid tumor of the middle ear.

We report here a case of a carcinoid tumor observed in the middle ear (ME), which was initially diagnosed as ME adenoma. The patient was a 64-year-old woman who was first seen in our hospital in March 2001 for a 7-month hearing loss. On otoscopic examination, a whitish mass could be observed through the intact tympanic membrane.

[Correlation between Fas/Fas-ligand expression and apoptosis in undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

We determined whether resistance to Fas-mediated apoptosis is involved in the development of undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinomas (UNPCs). In UNPC tissue sections from 20 cases, we conducted immunohistochemistry to detect Fas and FasL, in situ hybridization to detect Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA (EBER), and immunohistochemistry for single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) to detect apoptotic cells. Fas was detected in 17/20 (85%), FasL in 15/20 (75%), and EBER in 16/20 (80%).