Z-palatoplasty (ZPP): a technique for patients without tonsils.

Objective: Patients without tonsils and with Friedman tongue position (FTP) III and IV are poor candidates for uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UP3). Even when combined with adjunctive hyopharyngeal techniques, results are poor. We assessed a modified uvulopalatoplasty based on a bilateral Z-plasty in treating patients without tonsils who have obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).

Nasopharyngectomy after failure of 2 courses of radiation therapy.

Background: Recurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma after initial therapy has been reported to range between 18% and 54%. As an alternative to surgical salvage, patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma are offered a second course of radiation therapy. If this second course fails, patients may be candidates for surgical resection.

Estimating DNA repair by sequential evaluation of head and neck tumor radiation sensitivity using the comet assay.

Background: The alkaline comet assay is a microelectrophoretic technique for detecting single-strand DNA breaks, and may be used as an indirect measure of hypoxia by determining the radiation sensitivity of individual cells.

Objective: To assess the ability of the comet assay to estimate the rate of DNA repair after irradiation in patients with head and neck cancer.

Methods: The comet assay was used to evaluate DNA damage in fine-needle aspirates of lymph nodes containing metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in patients with head and neck cancer 1, 2, and 3 minutes after treatment with 500 rad (5 Gy) of irradiation.