Effects of scalpel, electrocautery, and CO2 and KTP lasers on wound healing in rat tongues.

Objective: Evaluate wound healing of incisions created by the scalpel, electrocautery, CO2 laser, and potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser in the upper aerodigestive tract in an animal model.

Study Design: Prospective randomized study in an animal model.

Methods: Postoperative oral intake, histologic depth of injury, and tensile mechanical strength were measured in rat tongues after creating incisions using a scalpel, electrocautery, CO2 laser, and KTP laser.

Characterization of novel cell lines from pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland established in a collagen gel system.

The pathobiology of salivary neoplasms can best be studied in a model system that reflects the native state of the tumor. The present study describes the use of a three-dimensional collagen gel (organoid) system in which pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland were propagated in vitro. Five pleomorphic adenoma cultures were established as organoid gels and compared with touch-preparations or cryopreserved specimens of native tumor.

Vocal symptoms in Parkinson disease treated with levodopa. A case report.

This is a report of a patient with unusually severe hoarseness in the absence of vocal fold pathology demonstrating Parkinson disease as one of the neurological diseases in which vocal symptoms occur. Although it is classifiably a severe, progressive, degenerative disorder, the popularity of pharmacotherapy for Parkinson disease during the past decade has resulted in improved functionality for an undetermined course of time in most patients. The classically described deterioration of speech ad voice may develop in a variant manner difficult to distinguish as disease-related, as this case report illustrates.

Cricoarytenoid arthritis in ankylosing spondylitis. A cause of acute respiratory failure and cor pulmonale.

A man with ankylosing spondylitis developed cor pulmonale and acute respiratory failure due to cricoarytenoid arthritis. He was successfully treated by endoscopic arytenoidectomy, and the surgical specimen showed ossified cartilage. Flow-volume curves documented extra-thoracic airway obstruction produced by ankylosis of the cricoarytenoid joints.

Identity degradation and mental disorder: an empirical assessment of the Conduct Impairment Scale.

Proponents of the medical models have held that mental disorder is best measured in terms of some inventory of symptoms indicative of an underlying disease. Alternatively, critics have argued that mental disorder is the result of a degraded ascribed role, a discrepancy between the person and his environment, or the degradation of identity. The issue goes beyond academic debate, with important implications for case-finding and program development in community mental health.

Pediatric tracheotomy. A five-year comparison study.

A five-year retrospective study (1972-1976) of pediatric tracheotomies that were performed on patients (age limit, 14 years) was undertaken with the following objectives in mind. We chose to compare the indications, complications, and both the short- and long-term follow-up results of patients who were arbitrarily classified into two groups. Group 1 consisted of those patients who weighed more than 2,500 g at the time of tracheotomy, and group 2 were those who weighed less than 2,500 g.