Oral health related quality of life in cleft lip and palate patients rehabilitated with conventional prostheses or dental implants.

Objectives: Cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) is the most common congenital craniofacial abnormality, with a prevalence of 9.92 per 10,000 live births. In treating patients with CLP, oral rehabilitation is definitely a very important phase of the treatment in order to improve the patient's oral health related quality of life (OH-QoL).

Calvarial onlay graft and submental incision in treatment of atrophic edentulous mandibles: an approach to reduce postoperative complications.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to test our approach based on the use of calvarial graft and extraoral approach, in treatment of severe mandibular atrophies with implant surgery and prosthetic rehabilitation.

Methods: We selected 6 patients, 4 females and 2 males, completely edentulous with a severe mandibular atrophy (class VI Cawood and Howell classification). Mean age of patients was 63 years, ranging from 60 to 67 years.

Ozone therapy in extractive surgery on patients treated with bisphosphonates.

It is certain that oral extractive surgery is a remarkable trigger to avascular osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients treated with pyrophosphate analogous. This acquisition limits the use of endo-oral surgery in those patients, even when they have already developed the lesions. In this study, we present the results obtained in a group of 15 patients deriving from a 33-patient cluster with osteonecrosis of the jaw in treatment at our department with a new protocol based on ozone therapy.

Interleukine-6 (IL-6) may be a link between myasthenia gravis and myoepithelioma of the parotid gland.

Myoepithelioma is a rare benign neoplasm of the salivary glands occurring more frequently in the parotids. Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic, T-cell dependent, antibody and complement-mediated autoimmune neuromuscular transmission disorder. Interleukine-6 (IL-6) is an immune protein belonging to the family of the hematopoietins, liberated in response to infection, burns, trauma, and neoplastic diseases.

Complex-type penetrating injuries of craniomaxillofacial region.

Craniofacial traumas are one of the most common clinical events of the 21st century. The possibility of associated injuries of the head and neck may also determine functional and cosmetic problems in these patients. The most frequent pathologic conditions observed are contusions, lacerations, abrasions, avulsions, and the inclusion of foreign bodies.

Intraoral distraction of a patient with premaxilla agenesis.

The complex disharmonies which affect the maxillofacial region, in the sagittal and vertical dimensions, can find further complications due to the deficit of maxillary osseous tissue in transversal direction. Surgery can be indispensable to correct the malocclusion. Various methodologies have been developed for the correction of transversal maxillary hypoplasia.

Norovirus transmission on cruise ship.

An outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis affected passengers on two consecutive cruises of ship X and continued on 4 subsequent cruises despite a 1-week sanitization. We documented transmission by food and person-to-person contact; persistence of virus despite sanitization onboard, including introductions of new strains; and seeding of an outbreak on land.

Effects of nicardipine and clonidine on cognitive functions and electroencephalography in hypertensive patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the cognitive and electroencephalography (EEG) short-term effects of a calcium antagonist, nicardipine, compared to placebo and clonidine (which, having known sedative effects, acted as a negative control) for 15 days in elderly hypertensive patients with memory complaints. Nicardipine and clonidine were compared with placebo in a double-blind, randomized, three-way cross-over controlled study after a 2-week placebo run-in period. This was a phase II clinical study carried out on out-patients in a single research centre.

Efficacy of the long-acting octreotide formulation (octreotide-LAR) in patients with thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenomas.

The presence of somatostatin receptors on TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas allows treatment of central hyperthyroidism with somatostatin analogs. Six women and 5 men (mean +/- SEM age, 43 +/- 3 yr) presented TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas (micro, n = 2; macro, n = 9). Seven patients had previously been treated with partial surgical removal (n = 6) and/or external radiation (n = 4) of their adenoma at least 1 yr before the study, whereas 4 patients had not been treated before somatostatin analog therapy.

Obstructive sleep apnea in a growing patient.

Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is a complex respiratory disorder that is very difficult to diagnose and to treat surgically as well as medically. SAS can affect growing patients as well as adults. SAS shows a central, an obstructive, and a mixed form.

Condylar fractures during growth: follow-up of 16 patients.

Fractures of the mandibular condyle represent 20% to 35% of all mandibular fractures. There are several clinical variants of this type of fracture that give rise to different problems in relation to their classification and treatment. A sample of 16 patients (of a total of 280 patients examined and treated from 1985 through 1995) with mono- and bilateral, displaced and decomposed, condylar fractures that occurred during growth were examined by the authors, who assessed, by a 2-year follow-up, the relevant clinical, functional, and instrumental parameters.

Vitiligo, autoimmune thyroiditis: a rare thyroid cancer arising with bone metastates on maxillofacial area.

An association between vitiligo and autoimmune thyroid disorders had previously been postulated. Thyroid disorders were found in 18.5% of 15,126 patients with vitiligo, on the basis of the anamnestic data.

Surgical planning and correction of medial craniofacial cleft.

In the framework of malformations that concerns the craniofacial area, the orbit is often involved because it represents the border structure between the neurocranium and the splanchnocranium. In these malformations it is very easy to find hypertelorism. Tessier classified clefts rising from the anterior skullbase and involving the maxilla and the alveolar process, as medial or 0 = 14 clefts.

[Example of a phase IV trial involving several physicians and aiming at answering a scientific question: EOL].

The aim of this trial was to test the hypothesis that a reduced number of doses improves compliance in current medical practice. Compliance with twice a day dosage was compared with compliance with three doses a day. Two bioequivalent presentations of nicardipine were used, the regular presentation (t.

Comparison between a bid and a tid regimen: improved compliance with no improved antihypertensive effect. The EOL Research Group.

Objectives: To compare compliance with an antihypertensive treatment administered either twice daily or three times daily. The two formulations of the antihypertensive treatment used (nicardipine) "regular tablets" (t.d.

Aesthetic and functional reconstruction in intraosseus hemangiomas of the zygoma.

The incidence of intraosseus hemangiomas is very low. The mandible, the zygoma, the maxilla, and the frontal bone are the most frequent areas of localization in the craniomaxillofacial region. Surgery, without preoperative embolization, is always the best treatment for intraosseus hemangiomas of the zygoma.

Firearm injuries in maxillofacial region reconstructive surgery.

Firearms induce severe morphological and structural alterations on both soft and bony tissues of the face. It is therefore essential to restore their previous functionality. In our experience, maxillofacial lesions due to firearm shooting must be divided, from a locational point of view, into those lesions involving the upper third, those involving the medium third, and those involving the lower third of the face.

[Simultaneous surgical correction of temporomandibular ankylosis and facial symmetry. Presentation of a case].

The authors stress the fact that the clinical course of a monolateral TMJ ankylosis tends to be more severe in young people. In this paper we analyze the diagnostic procedure for a tridimensional observation of any morphological and spatial alteration. The surgical procedure that permits the simultaneous correction of ankylosis and associated facial deformities is discussed.

[Bicoronal approach in the management of frontal sinus fractures].

The frontal sinus is located at the level of the junction between the naso-ethmoido-orbital region, the cranial vault and the skull base and plays a particularly important role in the biomechanics of the centro-facial region. It represents a locus minoris resistentiae placed between the fronto-orbital frame, whose resistance to trauma is good, and the thin posterior fronto-ethmoidal structures. Fractures of the frontal sinus more frequently involve the anterior wall of the frontal sinus and, occasionally, also the posterior wall and the base of the sinus.

[Relation between plasma renin level and antihypertensive response to nicardipine].

The antihypertensive efficacy of calcium antagonists could depend on the concentration of circulating renin. To investigate this hypothesis, 102 hypertensive men or women were included in this study. After an initial 2 week placebo period, the patients were administered slow-release nicardipine, 50 mg twice a day for twelve weeks.

[Surgical and local treatment in a case of fungal sinusitis in a patient with bone marrow aplasia].

We report a clinical case of severe medullary aplasia complicated by fungal antritis. The treatment adopted for this patient consists in a clean operation of the infective focus and the local instillation of Amfotericina B during the post operative period. In this way the systemic circulation is not interested by the use of Amfotericina B, which is extremely important to avoid the inevitable onset of several unwanted side-effects; besides, we avoid the progression of the infective focus and its systemic diffusion.

[The maxillofacial functional and esthetic surgical aspects in a case of osteopetrosis].

Osteopetrosis is an extremely rare condition characterized by an increase in osseous cell density. It shows three different hereditary patterns. Diagnosis is made by means of a 3D CT and an accurate study of hepatic and renal functions, as well as audiometric and labyrinth examination.

Placebo-controlled crossover comparison of spirapril at 3, 6, 12 and 24 mg once daily in mild to severe essential hypertension.

In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 20 patients with mild to severe essential hypertension received 3 weeks of treatment with each of four dosages of spirapril (3, 6, 12 and 24 mg once daily) or placebo. Standing and supine blood pressures were measured by use of both an automatic oscillometric instrument (Dinamap) and a mercury sphygmomanometer over a 24-hour period. Spirapril at 6, 12 and 24 mg once daily produced similar reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

[Methodological problems of prevention/regression trials of atherosclerosis].

Animal models of atherosclerosis have improved our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms involved in the formation of the atherosclerotic plaque. However, extrapolation of these data to the clinical situation is difficult. In addition, evaluation of the prevention or regression of atherosclerosis raises methodological problems.