Could the Addition of Cetuximab to Conventional Radiation Therapy Improve Organ Preservation in Those Patients With Locally Advanced Larynx Cancer Who Respond to Induction Chemotherapy? An Organ Preservation Spanish Head and Neck Cancer Cooperative Group Phase 2 Study.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy (IC) followed by bioradiotherapy (BRT) to achieve functional larynx preservation in the setting of locally advanced head and neck tumors.

Methods And Materials: This was a phase 2, open-label, multicenter study of patients with stage III and IVA laryngeal carcinoma who were candidates for total laryngectomy. The primary endpoint was the rate of survival with functional larynx (SFL) at 3 years, with a critical value to consider the study positive of SFL >59%.

[Nasal glioma].

Congenital midline nasal masses are rare and therefore easily misdiagnosed, but due to their possible complications, they require prompt diagnosis and management. In this article we review the three most common: dermoid cyst, glioma and encephalocele. Their tendency to have a similar presentation requires very good skills in taking the history and performing the physical exam as well as an adequate radiologic diagnosis including CT, MRI or both.

[Transient Brown-Séquard syndrome due to spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma].

Spinal epidural hematoma (SEH) is a low incidence injury. When the cause of bleeding is unknown, which occurs in 50% of the cases, we refer to it as spontaneous SEH. The clinical presentation is characterized by acute radicular pain followed by cord compression syndrome.

Rapid urease test: effect of preimmersion of biopsy forceps in formalin.

Objective: The rapid urease test is widely used at endoscopy to determine the presence of Helicobacter pylori. The effect of immersion of the biopsy forceps in formalin before performance of a rapid urease test is uncertain. The aim of this prospective study was to determine whether previous immersion of the biopsy forceps in formalin influences rapid urease test results.

Fine-needle aspiration of chromophobe renal-cell carcinoma metastatic to the thyroid gland.

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma is an unusual variant of renal carcinoma that has less aggressive behavior than clear cell carcinomas. There are few documented cases of metastases, none of which occurred in the thyroid gland. A case is presented of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the thyroid eight years after right nephrectomy, suspected by FNA-biopsy and confirmed histologically.

Reference change value for HbA1c in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

We estimated reference change value and steady state disease biological variation of glycohemoglobin (HbA1c) from serial measurements in 47 clinically stable type 2 diabetes patients whose home-measured capillary glucose was stable throughout the study. Whole blood HbA1c assays were performed by turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay. The analytical imprecision (coefficient of variation) was 7.

[Quality of life and mortality of patients in intensive care. Indices of quality of life].

Introduction: At present there is no single practical standardized scale for measuring quality of life (QL). Any proposal should include the patient's physical impairment, level of independence, and subjective perception of happiness. We combined three previously published scales to define a quality of life index (QLI) that we propose as a standard quantitative instrument.

Primula dermatitis.

We report the cases of 2 patients diagnosed as having primula dermatitis. Both patients were housewives who had been exposed to primula plants. Although only one related her clinical manifestations with looking after plants, the symptoms of both remitted when contact with primula was avoided.

Recurrent brief depression successfully treated with lithium.

Background: The diagnostic criteria for RBD requires the presence of at least five out of nine depressive symptoms analogous to the symptoms of major depression, yet a duration of less than two weeks, a recurrence of at least 12 times a year, and the evidence of impairment in occupational or other important areas of functioning. The lack of a successful treatment represents one of the main challenges of this disorder. The therapeutic value of lithium in RBD has been suggested by Montgomery, but the specific efficacy of this agent has not been tested yet in the case of patients with recurrent brief depressive disorder.

Sports-related stress fracture of the clavicle: a case report.

Stress fracture of the clavicle is extremely rare, even in sports medicine. The authors have treated a young man who, for several years practised a traditional physical activity in which groups of people make human towers by standing on each others shoulders. For the last three years the patient experienced pain in the medial aspect of the right clavicle when he increased the intensity of his training.

Cutaneous metastatic adenocarcinoma of gallbladder origin: report of a case and review of the literature.

In the English literature, there have only been seven reports of metastasis from cancer of the gallbladder to the skin. This is the report of a 75-year-old woman who developed cutaneous metastasis from an adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder which was confirmed histologically. We report the uncommon metastatic potential of gallbladder carcinoma to the skin.

[Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections].

An opportunist infection (OI) is understood to be an infection produced by microorganisms that invade a host with impaired immune capacity, such as children with HIV infection. The adequate treatment and chemoprophylaxis of these infections has improved the prognosis of their evolution, although they still present a high morbidity and mortality when they occur. In this sense, the introduction of triple therapy (new antiretroviral inhibitors and protease inhibitors) is likely to produce a prompt decrease in the incidence of OI because of the regression in the degree of immunosuppression that it induces.

Symptomatic colonic lipoma: differential diagnosis of large bowel tumors.

Symptomatic colonic lipomas, although unusual, continue to present difficulties in the preoperative differential diagnosis between malignant and benign colonic neoplasm. Although new imaging techniques are available, they are frequently diagnosed at laparotomy, and definitive histology is required. Local excision is adequate treatment, but segmental excision may be necessary when there is doubt about the diagnosis, or when a complication occurs.

Atopic dermatitis today.

This review focuses on recent literature regarding atopic dermatitis (AD). New insights in epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, quality of life measures, provocative factors, patophysiology and therapy will be highlighted. New diagnostic criteria for AD set by the UK working party allow easier epidemiologic studies to cope with this increasingly prevalent disease.

[Chronic atrophic gastritis, hypergastinemia and gastric carcinoid tumor].

We report a case of a gastric carcinoid tumor in an anemic woman with chronic atrophic gastritis and hypergastrinemia. An antrectomy with excision of a carcinoid tumor was performed; afterwards, gastrinemia was normal. Gastric carcinoids were considered uncommon gastric cancers; however, in recent years they have been studied with increasing interest because, as in chronic atrophic gastritis, it has been suggested that they might be produced by prolonged hypergastrinemia associated with therapeutic use of gastric acid supressors.

[Granulocytic sarcoma: unusual form of presentation for acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia].

A case of acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia is reported which appeared as granulocytic sarcoma (GS) with no leukaemic expression in peripheral blood. Aside of the patient's advanced age, the rarity of this entity at the onset of ANLL and the location of the tumour, on the back of the patient's left upper thigh are outstanding features. The difficult diagnosis of such non-leukaemic cases is also stressed here, with regard to the differential diagnosis with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

[Organizational models for the hematology areas of the district hospitals of Catalonia].

Purpose: The haematological assistance in Catalonia is based upon the district hospitals, in the first step, and the stage III hospitals located usually in higher population nuclei, in the second step. The purpose of this work was to analyse the resources of the "primary haematological assistance" network provided by the district hospitals, to evaluate them and to propose a model for their organisation.

Material And Methods: An enquiry was carried out to all members of the Grup de Treball d'Hospitals Comarcals de Catalunya (Catalonia's District Hospitals Task Force).

[Primary dural lymphoma].

We describe a 48-year-old woman with an intracranial tumor located in the meninges. Radiologic images were consistent with meningioma. Pathology showed that it was well differentiated and diffuse lymphocytic lymphoma.

[Actinomycosis of the tonsils with a pseudotumoral presentation: a clinical case].

A case of actinomycosis of the tonsils with a neoplasm-like clinical presentation is presented. Tonsillectomy confirmed the diagnosis and the patient's evolution was favorable after postoperative antibiotic therapy. The scant literature on cervicofacial actinomycosis is reviewed.

[Bacteriological study of serous otitis].

The bacteriological study of the middle ear effusion of one hundred cases of serous otitis media was performed. Results are discussed and compared to those reported in the literature.