Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA and Risk of Future Nasopharyngeal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: We previously conducted a prospective study to show that nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) screening with circulating Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA analysis can improve survival. However, the long-term significance of positive results in individuals without cancer was unclear. METHODS: We conducted a second-round screening at a median of 43 months after the initial screening.

Early detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: performance of a short contrast-free screening magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Although contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detects early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) not detected by endoscopic-guided biopsy (EGB), a short contrast-free screening MRI would be desirable for NPC screening programs. This study evaluated a screening MRI in a plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-DNA NPC screening program.

Methods: EBV-DNA-screen-positive patients underwent endoscopy, and endoscopy-positive patients underwent EGB.

Recommendations for Epstein-Barr virus-based screening for nasopharyngeal cancer in high- and intermediate-risk regions.

A meeting of experts was held in November 2021 to review and discuss available data on performance of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-based approaches to screen for early stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and methods for the investigation and management of screen-positive individuals. Serum EBV antibody and plasma EBV DNA testing methods were considered. Both approaches were found to have favorable performance characteristics and to be cost-effective in high-risk populations.

Whole-genome profiling of nasopharyngeal carcinoma reveals viral-host co-operation in inflammatory NF-κB activation and immune escape.

Interplay between EBV infection and acquired genetic alterations during nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) development remains vague. Here we report a comprehensive genomic analysis of 70 NPCs, combining whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of microdissected tumor cells with EBV oncogene expression to reveal multiple aspects of cellular-viral co-operation in tumorigenesis. Genomic aberrations along with EBV-encoded LMP1 expression underpin constitutive NF-κB activation in 90% of NPCs.

Frontal inverted papillomas: A 25-year study.

Objectives/hypothesis: This study analyzes the treatment outcomes of frontal inverted papillomas (FIPs) in an attempt to provide guidelines for surgery selection.

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: The treatment results of 29 FIPs classified into five categories were retrospectively analyzed.

Methylation analysis of plasma DNA informs etiologies of Epstein-Barr virus-associated diseases.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with a number of diseases, including malignancies. Currently, it is not known whether patients with different EBV-associated diseases have different methylation profiles of circulating EBV DNA. Through whole-genome methylation analysis of plasma samples from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), EBV-associated lymphoma and infectious mononucleosis, we demonstrate that EBV DNA methylation profiles exhibit a disease-associated pattern.

Distinguishing early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma from benign hyperplasia using intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted MRI.

Objectives: MRI can detect early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but the detection is more challenging in early-stage NPCs because they must be distinguished from benign hyperplasia in the nasopharynx. This study aimed to determine whether intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM DWI) MRI could distinguish between these two entities.

Methods: Thirty-four subjects with early-stage NPC and 30 subjects with benign hyperplasia prospectively underwent IVIM DWI.

Sequencing-based counting and size profiling of plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA enhance population screening of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Circulating tumor-derived DNA testing for cancer screening has recently been demonstrated in a prospective study on identification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) among 20,174 asymptomatic individuals. Plasma EBV DNA, a marker for NPC, was detected using real-time PCR. While plasma EBV DNA was persistently detectable in 97.

Analysis of Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA to Screen for Nasopharyngeal Cancer.

Background: Circulating cell-free Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA is a biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. We conducted a prospective study to investigate whether EBV DNA in plasma samples would be useful to screen for early nasopharyngeal carcinoma in asymptomatic persons.

Methods: We analyzed EBV DNA in plasma specimens to screen participants who did not have symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Exome and genome sequencing of nasopharynx cancer identifies NF-κB pathway activating mutations.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an aggressive head and neck cancer characterized by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and dense lymphocyte infiltration. The scarcity of NPC genomic data hinders the understanding of NPC biology, disease progression and rational therapy design. Here we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on 111 micro-dissected EBV-positive NPCs, with 15 cases subjected to further whole-genome sequencing (WGS), to determine its mutational landscape.

Narrow band imaging endoscopy of the nasopharynx is not more useful than white light endoscopy for suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Endoscopy is often used to screen for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A normal nasopharynx on white light endoscopy may yet harbor subclinical or occult malignancy. This study assessed whether the vascular pattern seen on narrow band imaging endoscopy could indicate this and thus be useful for detecting suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Early detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA analysis in a surveillance program.

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is prevalent in Southeast Asia. Over the last decade, plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA has been developed as a tumor marker for NPC. In this study, the authors investigated whether plasma EBV DNA analysis is useful for NPC surveillance.

Primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma: diagnostic accuracy of MR imaging versus that of endoscopy and endoscopic biopsy.

Purpose: To compare the accuracy of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with that of the current clinical standard of endoscopy and endoscopic biopsy, to determine whether MR imaging depicts subclinical cancers missed at endoscopy and endoscopic biopsy, and to determine whether MR imaging can identify patients without nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who do not need to undergo invasive sampling biopsy.

Materials And Methods: The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board; written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Patients suspected of having NPC underwent MR imaging, endoscopy, and endoscopic biopsy.

Reversal of pale-to-dark nasopharyngeal follicle ratio on narrow-band imaging.

Normal nasopharyngeal mucosa contains varying amounts of lymphoid tissue, which in adults may be minimal or absent. Nasopharyngeal mucosa with minimal lymphoid tissue has a regular follicular pattern on narrow-band imaging; pale follicles have thin, dark borders and the ratio of the pale follicle to the dark border (pale-to-dark ratio) is roughly 90%. In some patients undergoing routine nasopharyngeal endoscopy, the pale-to-dark ratio is reversed on narrow-band imaging, with dark centres surrounded by pale borders and a pale-to-dark ratio of roughly 50%.

Endoscopic assessment of the nasopharynx: an objective score of abnormality to predict the likelihood of malignancy.

Objectives: We developed an objective endoscopic score of abnormality of the nasopharynx to predict the likelihood of malignancy.

Methods: A score sheet with 44 variables was developed to objectively quantify the bilateral endoscopic assessment of the nasopharynx. Patients scheduled to undergo nasopharyngeal biopsies were recruited.

Treatment results of sinonasal inverted papilloma: an 18-year study.

Background: This article reviews our treatment results of sinonasal inverted papilloma (SNIP) over the past 18 years. A retrospective observational study was performed.

Methods: Fifty-six patients with SNIP seen between 1990 and 2008 with follow-up of >2 years were retrospectively analyzed.

Rhinitis Symptom Utility Index (RSUI) in Chinese subjects: a multiattribute patient-preference approach.

Background: The Rhinitis Symptom Utility Index (RSUI), originally developed in the United States, consists of a patient-preference weighting scheme and a 10-item questionnaire measuring the severity and frequency of rhinitis related symptoms over a 14-day period. This study aimed to determine whether the Chinese RSUI could adopt the US-based multi-attribute utility function (MAUF) in scoring rhinitis symptoms.

Methods: In a Hong Kong study, 116 Chinese adults with allergic rhinitis completed the RSUI questionnaire and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) after they had been seen by two otorhinolaryngologists for disease-severity ratings.

Effects of the Chinese herbal formula Shi-Bi-Lin on cytokine release from the human mast cell line.

Background: The traditional Chinese herbal formula Cang Er Zi San has been used for the treatment of rhinitis, paranasal sinusitis, and allergic rhinitis for several centuries. However, its therapeutic mechanisms remain largely unclear.

Objective: To study the effects of Shi-Bi-Lin (SBL), a modified Cang Er Zi San formula, on cytokine release from and expressions in the human mast cell line (HMC-1).

Symptomatic and pathophysiological observations in a modified animal model of allergic rhinitis.

There are many animal models for studying allergic rhinitis. However, they either need a too long establishment period or fail to show significant late allergic responses. In the model described in this paper, guinea pigs were sensitized and challenged intranasally with ovalbumin according to a modified protocol.

The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome on otorhinolaryngological services at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.

Objectives/hypothesis: The objective was to describe the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on the services of the division of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at an academic tertiary referral hospital in Hong Kong.

Study Design: Descriptive.

Methods: Records of general and subspecialty outpatient attendance, ward admissions, ward bed occupancy, and elective and emergency surgery were obtained for the period since the SARS outbreak and for an equivalent period before the outbreak.

Esophageal perforation and neck abscess from ingested foreign bodies: treatment and outcomes.

Over a 6.5-year period, 5,848 patients who had ingested a foreign body were admitted to the ENT unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. Potentially serious complications developed in 12 patients (0.

A prospective study on the efficacy of mometasone furoate monohydrate aqueous nasal spray on Chinese patients with allergic rhinitis.

Objective: We undertook a prospective study of the efficacy of a new intranasal steroid, mometasone furoate nasal spray (Nasonex; Schering-Plough Corp, Kenilworth, NJ).

Study Design: Chinese patients with allergic rhinitis were recruited. The patients were assessed by a questionnaire that included demographic data and a Rhinitis Symptoms Score.