The arterial blood supply of the temporomandibular joint: an anatomical study and clinical implications.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze three-dimensional images of the arterial supply to the temporomandibular joint. Materials and Methods: Ten patients (five men and five women, mean age 36 years) without signs or symptoms of temporomandibular disorders, who underwent contrast-enhanced computed tomographic (CT) scanning with intravenous contrast, were studied. The direct volume rendering technique of CT images was used, and a data set of images to visualize the vasculature of the human temporomandibular joint in three dimensions was created. After elaboration of the data through post-processing, the arterial supply of the temporomandibular joint was studied. Results: The analysis revealed the superficial temporal artery, the anterior tympanic artery, the deep temporal artery, the auricular posterior artery, the transverse facial artery, the middle meningeal artery, and the maxillary artery with their branches as the main arterial sources for the lateral and medial temporomandibular joint. Conclusion: The direct volume rendering technique was found to be successful in the assessment of the arterial supply to the temporomandibular joint. The superficial temporal artery and maxillary artery ran along the lateral and medial sides of the condylar neck, suggesting that these arteries are at increased risk during soft-tissue procedures such as an elective arthroplasty of the temporomandibular joint

PRIMARY ORBITAL LIPOSARCOMA IN LI-FRAUMENI CANCER FAMILY SYNDROME:A CASE REPORT

Aims and background: The aim of this study was to describe a case of primary orbital liposarcoma in Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Methods and study design: In July 1998 a 20-year-old woman with a histological diagnosis of orbital myxoid liposarcoma underwent surgical treatment in our department. Since the patient's family pedigree met the clinical criteria for the diagnosis of LFS, molecular analysis was performed, which resulted in a molecular profile consistent with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Results: The patient underwent orbital exenteration extended to the upper eyelid; surgical reconstructive steps were performed to permit placement of an orbital prosthesis. Two years after primary surgery the patient underwent a quadrantectomy with lymphadenectomy of the right axilla because of the presence of a nodule of 1.5 cm in diameter in the upper-lateral quadrant of the right breast. One year after the last surgery, the patient is disease free. Conclusion: The diagnosis of an orbital malignancy in a young patient with a family history of cancer should suggest the presence of an underlying genetic disorder like LFS; with molecular analysis we can now determine the genetic disorder and the exact location of the mutation, and also obtain important prognostic data using specific cellular markers. More prognostic information increases the chances of adequate personalized treatment

Traditional Endodontic Surgery Versus Modern Technique: A 5-Year Controlled Clinical Trial

In this study, we compared outcomes of traditional apicoectomy versus modern apicoectomy, by means of a controlled clinical trial with a 5-year follow-up. The study investigated 938 teeth in 843 patients. On the basis of the procedure performed, the teeth were grouped in 3 groups. Differences between the groups were the method of osteotomy (type of instruments used), type of preparation of retrograde cavity (different apicoectomy angles and instruments used for root-end preparation), and root-end filling material used (gray mineral trioxide aggregate or silver amalgam). Outcome (tooth healing) was estimated after 1 and 5 years, postoperatively. Clinical success rates after 1 year were 67% (306 teeth), 90% (186 teeth), and 94% (256 teeth) according to traditional apicoectomy (group 1), modern microsurgical apicoectomy using burns for osteotomy (group 2) or using piezo-osteotomy (group 3), respectively. After 1 year, group comparison results were statistically significant (P G 0.0001). Linear trend test was also statistically significant (P G 0.0001), pointing out larger healing from group 1 to group 3. After 5 years, teeth were classified into 2 groups on the basis of root-end filling material used. Clinical success was 90.8% (197 teeth) in the silver amalgam group versus 96% (309 teeth) in the mineral trioxide aggregate group (P G 0.00214). Multiple logistic regression analysis found that surgical technique was independently associated to tooth healing. In conclusion, modern apicoectomy resulted in a probability of success more than 5 times higher (odds ratio, 5.20 [95% confidence interval, 3.94Y6.92]; P G 0.001) compared with the traditional technique

Modification of carboxyl groups of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) via facile wet chemistry method: A kinetic study

In this work, we present the results of a kinetic study of the surface modification of the carboxyl group of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) into acyl chloride. Reaction temperature and time, concentration of the reactants, kind of agitation have been changed in order to understand their effect on the conversion. A study on the penetration of the reaction inside the sample bulk was also performed. The results indicate that, when short reaction times are adopted, the reaction limits to the outer layers of the samples and, in this case, on increasing the temperature, the concentration of the reactants and the stirring allows having a faster kinetic. At longer reaction times, the reaction penetrates deep inside the sample (several tens of microns) and the influence of the above mentioned variables on the kinetic is very low. The results, obtained by direct FTIR, ATR-FTIR, SEM-EDX and contact angle measurements, were confirmed and corroborated by theoretical estimations