Intratympanic dexamethasone/hyaluronic acid mix as an adjunct to intravenous steroid and vasoactive treatment in patients with severe idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: To evaluate differences in effectiveness (hearing recovery rates) between idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) patients treated with intravenous therapy alone and patients treated with a combination of intravenous and intratympanic therapy.

Study Design: Retrospective case review.

Setting: Tertiary referral hospital center.

Diagnostic laparoscopy.

Diagnostic laparoscopy is increasingly being used to aid decision-making in the treatment of serious diseases. The majority of papers on the topic published during the last year have been concerned with preoperative assessment of malignant diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and have shown that laparoscopy alone--or, even better, in combination with laparoscopic ultrasonography--is able to identify metastatic disease and therefore to reduce significantly the risk of unnecessary laparotomies. New techniques such as the application of fluorescent dyes may improve these results even further.

MRI in lung transplant recipients using hyperpolarized 3He: comparison with CT.

Purpose: To elucidate the ability of 3He-MRI to detect ventilation defects in lung transplant recipients, 3He-MRI was compared to CT for concordance.

Materials And Methods: We examined 14 lung recipients using 3He-MRI on a 1.5 T MR scanner.

A quantitative study of the pancuronium antagonism at the motor endplate in human organophosphorus intoxication.

Nine patients with organophosphorus (OP) intoxication developing neuromuscular transmission defects were given pancuronium 1, 2, or 4 mg intravenously (IV). Thirteen patient controls with hypoxic encephalopathy received similar dosages. The responses were monitored electrophysiologically using single and repetitive nerve stimulation (20 and 50 Hz).

Efficacy of obidoxime in human organophosphorus poisoning: determination by neuromuscular transmission studies.

Six patients with organophosphorus compound intoxications developed an intermediate syndrome (weakness and fasciculations) and obidoxime was given on eight occasions. The efficacy of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reactivator was monitored electrophysiologically by neuromuscular transmission studies using single and repetitive nerve stimulation (20 and 50 Hz) and the activity of the serum (butyryl) cholinesterase (ChE). Dramatic electrophysiologic improvement was seen when obidoxime was given early within 12 h in 3 patients, although evidence of AChE inhibition did not subside completely.

Retrograde penile venoablation.

We evaluated retrograde penile venoablation as treatment modality in impotent patients suffering from a venous leakage. Forty-six of 53 (86%) interventions were technically feasible. Improvement in erectile function was obtained by 24/46 (52%) procedures: in 20 men spontaneous intercourse was possible, four men needed additional intracavernous injection of vasoactive drugs.

Comparison of quantitative DNA measurements and cytomorphology in squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract with and without lymph node metastases.

Cytologic smears of squamous cell carcinomas (UICC T2 through T4) from the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract without cervical lymph node metastases (n = 10) and with metastases (n = 20) were examined. Subsequently, the cytologic smears of the metastases (n = 20) obtained by fine-needle aspiration or following neck dissection were evaluated morphologically. Each specimen was then stained with Papanicolaou and Feulgen techniques, and quantitative DNA measurements were performed with an image analysis system.

Quantitative DNA measurements in malignant and benign lesions of the upper aerodigestive tract.

Thirty-six patients underwent biopsy of clinically suspicious lesions of the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract. The biopsy material was evaluated histologically and cytologic smears out of the same lesion underwent quantitative DNA analysis using a numerical index derived from the single cell DNA content. In 30 patients, histologically diagnosed squamous cell cancer was confirmed by DNA analysis with the malignancy grade correlating with the morphologic differentiation of the tumor.