A Case Report of Pembrolizumab-Induced Allergic Hepatitis.

The immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab is now considered a first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer. Pembrolizumab is less toxic than conventional chemotherapy but may result in immune-related adverse events. We report a case in which liver injury occurred just two days after the administration of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy.

Assessment of inner ear morphology and function in response to local positive pressure for Ménière's disease: a nonrandomized controlled trial.

Ménière's disease (MD) is an inner ear disorder in which the main pathological feature is endolymphatic hydrops (EH). Positive pressure therapy (PPT) using a portable device is now a second-line therapy for intractable MD when initial medical treatment fails. However, it remains unknown whether PPT causes the morphological and functional changes of inner ear in patients with active MD in accordance with reduction of vertigo attacks.

Factors associated with spontaneous nystagmus changes in acute Ménière's disease.

Background: Neuro-otological factors that influence changes in spontaneous nystagmus (SN) during vertigo attacks in Ménière's disease (MD) remain unclear.

Objective: To identify neuro-otological factors that might influence the initial direction of SN and the directional change of SN.

Methods: A prospective, observational study of 22 patients with definite MD to evaluate the initial direction and directional change of SN during vertigo attacks, endolymphatic hydrops (EH) volume, and the function of horizontal semicircular canal and hearing levels.

Antivertiginous Effect of Caloric Stimulation for Acute Peripheral Vertigo.

Objective: To clarify therapeutic effect of caloric stimulation for acute peripheral vertigo.

Patients: Two patients with acute peripheral vertigo accompanied by spontaneous nystagmus.

Interventions: Therapeutic.

Rupture-Like Shrinkage and Regrowth of Endolymphatic Hydrops in Ménière's Disease During Remission.

Objective: To clarify pathophysiological characteristics of Ménière's disease during the remission phase.

Patients: Two Ménière's disease patients with different disease durations, whose endolymphatic hydrops was longitudinally observed using 3-T magnetic resonance imaging.

Interventions: Diagnostic.

Case Report: Positive Pressure Therapy Combined With Endolymphatic sac Surgery in a Patient With Ménière's Disease.

Positive pressure therapy (PPT) is applied for medically-intractable vertigo in Ménière's disease (MD); however, it remains unknown whether PPT affects endolymphatic hydrops (EH). In this case report, we describe a 5-year course of MD in a patient in which EH was repeatedly observed. As the patient experienced recurrent vertigo attacks after endolymphatic sac surgery, he began to use the PPT device additionally and vertiginous episodes decreased in accordance with a decrease in the EH volume.

Assessment of the Progression of Vertical Semicircular Canal Dysfunction and Increased Vestibular Endolymphatic Hydrops in Patients With Early-Stage Ménière Disease.

Importance: Vertical semicircular canals and endolymphatic hydrops play important roles in the pathophysiological mechanisms of Ménière disease. However, their characteristics and associations with disease progression during medical treatment have not been determined.

Objective: To examine the function of both the horizontal and vertical semicircular canals in patients with Ménière disease and to evaluate the change in endolymphatic hydrops volume during medical treatment, including treatment with diuretic therapy, over a 2-year period.

Vertical head impulse and caloric are complementary but react opposite to Meniere's disease hydrops.

Objectives/hypothesis: Meniere's disease (MD) patients can show normal head impulses despite poor caloric test results. This study aimed to investigate the discrepancy in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) in MD patients and whether endolymphatic hydrops (EH) influence the VOR.

Study Design: Prospective, cross-sectional observational study.

Longitudinal up-regulation of endolymphatic hydrops in patients with Meniere's disease during medical treatment.

Objective/hypothesis: Meniere's disease (MD) is a common inner ear disease characterized by repeated episodic vertigo, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, and tinnitus. Its pathology is defined as endolymphatic hydrops (EH) in the inner ear and EH has been hypothesized to correlate with the clinical symptoms of MD. We presented the dynamics of in vivo EH in MD patients during medical treatments.

Contralateral type of delayed endolymphatic hydrops may consist of two phenotypes based on a magnetic resonance imaging preliminary study.

Objective: This study was performed to determine the volume distribution of EH in contralateral DEH.

Patients And Methods: Five contralateral DEH patients (age range = 21-77 years) and one ipsilateral DEH patient. Visualization of in vivo EH using 3T magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed by intravenous administration of gadolinium.

Preceding profound deafness and co-factors promote development of endolymphatic hydrops in preliminary patients with delayed endolymphatic hydrops.

Conclusion: Profound deafness (PD) is unlikely to be the only cause of endolymphatic hydrops (EH) in patients with delayed endolymphatic hydrops (DEH). Further studies in large patient cohorts are required to determine the etiologic co-factors involved in the development of EH in patients with PD and DEH.

Objectives: DEH usually occurs in patients with sustained unilateral PD who then develop episodic vertigo or fluctuating hearing loss.

[Significant factors for surgical site infection: analysis of 203 head and neck surgeries].

Surgical site infection (SSI) is a common complication in head and neck surgeries. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of, and risk factors for SSI following surgical procedures of the head and neck. The study population comprised 206 patients who underwent surgery of head and neck region in NTT West Osaka Hospital between 2009 and 2011.

[Clinical analysis of cervical lymph node metastasis from an unknown primary carcinoma].

We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of neck dissection followed by radiotherapy by using the clinical outcome in 15 patients (median age: 60 years) with upper cervical lymph node (level II) metastasis from unknown primary carcinoma undergoing curative treatment from 1999 to 2007. The male-to-female ratio was 4 : 1, and the histopathological diagnosis in 11 patients (73.3%) was squamous cell carcinoma.

The role of fine-needle aspiration cytology and magnetic resonance imaging in the management of parotid mass lesions.

Conclusion: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the diagnostic modality of first choice for characterization of parotid mass lesions, while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should not be requested routinely. MRI can be reserved until FNAC shows the indication for surgical intervention.

Objectives: Although both FNAC and MRI are useful preoperative diagnostic modalities for parotid mass lesions, it is not well established which modality is more effective.

Synchronous squamous cell carcinoma and malignant lymphoma in the head and neck region.

Synchronous malignancy of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and malignant lymphoma (ML) in the head and neck region is extremely rare. Here, we report the case of a 57-year-old man with a right-sided neck mass; he was referred to our hospital in September 2001. A series of staging work-ups revealed that he was simultaneously affected by oropharyngeal SCC and nasopharyngeal ML.

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin and docetaxel for advanced head and neck cancer. A phase I study.

Background: This phase I study of weekly low-dose administration of cisplatin (CDDP) and docetaxel (DOC) combined with concurrent conventionally fractionated radiotherapy was designed for locoregionally advanced head and neck cancer.

Patients And Methods: Twelve patients were treated at varying levels of DOC (level 1: 5 mg/m2/week, level 2: 7.5 mg/m2/week, level 3: 10 mg/m2/week) with CDDP constant at 20 mg/m2/week in four cohorts of three patients.

Involvement of CD100, a lymphocyte semaphorin, in the activation of the human immune system via CD72: implications for the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses.

CD100/Sema4D belongs to the semaphorin family, factors known to act as repulsive cues for axons during neuronal development. Mouse CD100 plays a crucial role in both humoral and cellular immunity through ligation of the lymphocyte receptor, CD72. It remains controversial, however, whether human CD100 can function through human CD72 in a manner similar to mouse CD100.

Overexpression of the Wilms' tumor gene WT1 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The expression levels of the Wilms' tumor gene WT1 were examined in 56 cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). They included 4 cases of floor of mouth, 9 of gingiva, 25 of tongue, 10 of oropharynx, 3 of hypopharynx, and 5 larynx squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). All (100%) of 4 cases of floor of mouth, 5 (56%) of 9 gingiva, 17 (68%) of 25 tongue, 8 (80%) of 10 oropharynx, all (100%) of 3 hypopharynx, and all (100%) of 5 larynx SCC overexpressed the WT1 gene in the range of 3.

Malignant transformation of thyroid follicular cells by galectin-3.

Galectin-3, a beta-galactoside binding lectin, is highly expressed in thyroid carcinomas of follicular cell origin, whereas neither benign thyroid adenomas nor normal thyroid tissues express galectin-3. We previously showed that antisense inhibition of galectin-3 expression markedly reduced the malignant phenotype of thyroid papillary carcinoma cells. In the present study we transfected galectin-3 cDNA into TAD-2 normal thyroid follicular cells.