Microsurgical reconstruction of oral defects with free flaps for patients with oral cancer: an 8 year experience with 153 consecutive cases.

Objective: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common type of cancer affecting people worldwide, with still large proportion of patients diagnosed with the disease in the advanced stage. Due to free vascularised tissue transfers, radical cancer treatment and immediate reconstruction are feasible as a one-stage procedure. The aim of this paper is to evaluate retrospectively our experience with free flap reconstruction of oral defects for patients with oral malignancies in advanced stages.

Validity of multiplex biomarker model of 6 genes for the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules.

Background: Currently the cytological examination of fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies is the standard technique for the pre-operative differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules. However, the results may be non-informative in ~20% of cases due to an inadequate sampling and the lack of highly specific, measurable cytological criteria, therefore ancillary biomarkers that could aid in these cases are clearly needed. The aim of our study was to evaluate the mRNA expression levels of 8 candidate marker genes as the diagnostic biomarkers for the discrimination of benign and malignant thyroid nodules and to find a combination of biomarkers with the highest diagnostic value.

Treatment of parotid gland tumors in Latvian Oncological Center.

A total of 268 patients were treated for parotid gland lesions at department of Head and Neck Surgery of Latvian Oncological Center between 1996 and 2000, and the results were analyzed retrospectively. The objective was to analyze the incidence and factors associated with facial nerve dysfunction after different types of parotidectomies with facial nerve dissection and to compare the changing attitudes towards the pathology and surgical treatment in order to better define prevention and management of pleomorphic adenoma recurrences. Limited superficial parotidectomy was the commonest operation performed in 143 patients.

5 year experience with lower lip cancer.

Retrospective study of 189 cases of lower lip cancer treated from 1996-2000 is done. There were 69% males and 31% females. Median age was 66.