[Total voice prosthesis incarceration in the trachaeo-oesophageal mucosa. Report of a new complication when using phonatory prostheses].

We report the cases of three patients seen at the Otolaryngology Department after presenting a laryngeal carcinoma that required total laryngectomy, followed by trachaeo-oesophageal puncture and Provox voice prosthesis positioning. In all cases the growth of granulomatous tissue totally incarcerated the prosthesis in the trachaeo-oesophageal mucosa. In two of the cases the prosthesis could be extracted by oesophagoscopy and a new prosthesis was positioned in the same surgery.

p53 mutation is rare in oral mucosa brushings from patients previously treated for a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Mutations of the tumour suppressor gene p53 are common in human cancer, and seem to be an early event in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The aim of our study was to determine the status of the tumour suppressor gene p53 in the oral mucosa of patients previously treated for a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, at risk of developing an oral squamous cell carcinoma, but without oral clinical lesions. Oral brushings from 87 patients were sequenced with matched genomic DNA.

p16(INK4a) promoter hypermethylation in oral scrapings of oral squamous cell carcinoma risk patients.

Aberrant promoter hypermethylation is common in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and may be useful as a marker for cancer cells. The aim of our study was to assess whether the detection of hypermethylation of the promoter region of p16(INK4a) in oral cytological samples could be a marker in patients with risk of developing an OSCC. Hypermethylation was detected in 20% (29/145) of the cases analyzed.