Combat zone exposure and respiratory tract disease

The impact of deployment to combat zones on the respiratory and sinonasal health of U.S. soldiers is an emerging public health concern. Retrospective studies have shown a correlation between deployment and development of post-deployment pathology, particularly of the aerodigestive system. Respiratory disease, including sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma, are commonly reported in soldiers deployed to the Middle East and Southwest Asia.Current literature pertaining to combat zone exposure and development of respiratory disease was retrieved using PubMed,\ua0Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.Several types of combat zone exposures exist that may play an influential role in the development of upper and lower respiratory tract diseases. Exposures including foreign dusts, harsh environments, particulate size, and close living quarters may play a causative role. The effect of combat zone exposures has been better examined for lower respiratory tract diseases; however, with the theory of the unified airway, the upper respiratory tract may also be involved. There is evidence that the upper respiratory tract is susceptible, with an increased risk for development of sinusitis and sinonasal disease; however, the quality of evidence of the present literature is generally low.More research is necessary to determine a pathophysiologic mechanism between combat zone exposure and the development of sinonasal disease. Practicing otolaryngologists should be aware of the possibility of combat zone exposures that could contribute to rhinologic symptomatology

SMARCB1-deficient sinonasal carcinoma: systematic review and case report

Introduction: To describe the current state of literature involving SMARCB1/INI-1 deficient sinonasal carcinoma (SDSC) and examine a case at our institution. Methods: A systematic search was performed using the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study Design approach. Search criteria included all occurrences in the title or abstract of the terms: “integrase interactor 1 deficient,” “INI1 deficient,” or “SMARCB1 deficient” and “sinonasal carcinoma.” The main outcomes were disease-free survival, all-cause mortality, rates of recurrence, or metastases. Results: Systematic search yielded 13 studies for final review. All studies were either case series or case reports with 82 cases of SDSC published since 2014. Age on presentation ranged from 19 to 75 years, with the majority of patients being male. Surgical resection was the primary modality of treatment with adjuvant radiation or chemoradiation therapy. Overall, the prognosis was poor, with most tumors presenting at advanced stages with an overall median (range) survival of 22 (12–44) months with an average (standard deviation) of 45.3% (33.1%) of patients dying of the disease. An average (standard deviation) of 38.2% (34.0%) of patients had no evidence of disease at follow-up. Studies comparing sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma to SDSC reported worse prognosis for SDSC and increased risk for locoregional recurrence in the latter cohort. Conclusions: SDSC represents a highly aggressive tumor presenting at advanced stage with propensity of metastasis. More research is necessary to determine the optimal treatment modality and management

SMARCB1-Deficient Sinonasal Carcinoma: Systematic Review and Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: To describe the current state of literature involving SMARCB1/INI-1 deficient sinonasal carcinoma (SDSC) and examine a case at our institution. METHODS: A systematic search was performed using the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study Design approach. Search criteria included all occurrences in the title or abstract of the terms: integrase interactor 1 deficient, INI1 deficient, or SMARCB1 deficient and sinonasal carcinoma. The main outcomes were disease-free survival, all-cause mortality, rates of recurrence, or metastases. RESULTS: Systematic search yielded 13 studies for final review. All studies were either case series or case reports with 82 cases of SDSC published since 2014. Age on presentation ranged from 19 to 75 years, with the majority of patients being male. Surgical resection was the primary modality of treatment with adjuvant radiation or chemoradiation therapy. Overall, the prognosis was poor, with most tumors presenting at advanced stages with an overall median (range) survival of 22 (12-44) months with an average (standard deviation) of 45.3% (33.1%) of patients dying of the disease. An average (standard deviation) of 38.2% (34.0%) of patients had no evidence of disease at follow-up. Studies comparing sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma to SDSC reported worse prognosis for SDSC and increased risk for locoregional recurrence in the latter cohort. CONCLUSIONS: SDSC represents a highly aggressive tumor presenting at advanced stage with propensity of metastasis. More research is necessary to determine the optimal treatment modality and management

Gastroesophageal and Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Associated With Laryngeal Malignancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Gastric reflux may lead to chronic mucosal inflammation and contribute to development of laryngeal malignancies, although there is controversy over this association. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess this relationship and determine the risk of laryngeal malignancy in patients with reflux disease. METHODS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis, searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases from 1900 through April 9, 2018, for observational studies of adults reporting associations between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and/or laryngopharyngeal reflux and the risk of having or developing laryngeal malignancies. An itemized assessment of the risk of bias was conducted for each study that met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis was performed using the Mantel-Haenszel method with random effects to account for heterogeneity. We performed subgroup analyses to determine the effect of reflux type, study design, diagnostic method, and confounding variables on the overall risk. RESULTS: Of the 957 studies that were identified during systematic review, 18 case-control studies met the criteria for analysis. Our meta-analysis showed that reflux disease significantly increased the risk of laryngeal malignancy (odds ratio, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.90-3.21; P \u3c .00001; I CONCLUSIONS: In a systematic review and meta-analysis, we found a significant association between reflux disease and the presence of laryngeal malignancy. Prospective studies should be performed to examine this relationship

Differentiation of Clinical Patterns Associated With Rhinologic Disease

Background: Common rhinologic diagnoses have similar presentations with a varying degree of overlap. Patterns may exist within clinical data that can be useful for early diagnosis and predicting outcomes. Objective: To explore the feasibility of artificial intelligence to differentiate patterns in patient data in order to develop clinically-meaningful diagnostic groups. Methods: A cross-sectional study of prospectively-acquired patient data at a tertiary rhinology clinic was performed. Data extracted included objective findings on nasal endoscopy, patient reported quality of life (PRQOL) instrument ratings, peripheral eosinophil fraction, and past medical history. Unsupervised non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to discover patterns in the data using 22 input variables. Results: A total of 545 patients were analyzed after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria yielding 7 unique patient clusters, highly dependent on PRQOL scores and demographics. The clusters were clinically-relevant with distinct characteristics. Chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyposis (CRSsNP) was associated with two clusters having low frequencies of asthma and low eosinophil fractions. Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) was associated with high frequency of asthma, mean (standard deviation [SD]) NOSE scores of 66 (19) and SNOT-22 scores of 41 (15), and high eosinophil fractions. AR was present in multiple clusters. RARS was associated with the youngest population with mean (SD) NOSE score of 54 (23) and SNOT-22 score of 41 (19). Conclusion: Broader consideration of initially available clinical data may improve diagnostic efficiency for rhinologic conditions without ancillary studies, using computer-driven algorithms. PRQOL scores and demographic information appeared to be useful adjuncts, with associations to diagnoses in this pilot study

Reflux Disease and Laryngeal Neoplasia in Nonsmokers and Nondrinkers.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been hypothesized as a risk factor for development of laryngeal cancer. A case-control study was performed to assess the association of laryngeal neoplasia with GERD. Cases consisted of patients with a history of laryngeal cancer or carcinoma in situ. Controls were patients without neoplasia who matched cases 2:1 on age, sex, race, and smoking history. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess risk of laryngeal neoplasia and GERD. In total, 2094 patients were included. Cases had higher rates of GERD. Univariate analysis demonstrated a positive association between GERD and laryngeal neoplasia (odds ratio, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.07-1.64). Multivariate analysis controlling for alcohol use history also demonstrated a positive association between GERD and laryngeal neoplasia (adjusted odds ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.04-1.59). These results suggest increased odds of laryngeal carcinoma and carcinoma in situ in patients with GERD when controlling for smoking and drinking history