Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of External Auditory Canal

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is extremely rare tumour that accounts for approximately 5% of primary malignancy of external auditory canal. These tumours are related with a high risk of recurrences and significant morbidities from surgical management and adjuvant radiotherapy. Despite the aggressive management for these tumours, many patients succumb to distant metastasis, making overall prognosis of these tumours poor. Although ACC of EAC has been reported in 5th decade, but its occurrence in young patient is very rare. We report a rare case of ACC in a young 22 years old female, who presented with ear canal mass and ear pain. Biopsy suggested mass to be ACC. Patient underwent wide local excision followed by adjuvant radiotherapy

Malignant Melanoma of Nose and Paranasal Sinuses: 2 Case Reports

Malignant melanoma is one of the rare and highly aggressive diseases of the sinonasal cavity. High index of suspicion is required for diagnosis as the patient usually presents with non specific signs and symptoms. In the natural course of the disease, higher rate of loco regional recurrences and distant metastasis are seen making the overall prognosis of disease very poor. In reviewing the various treatment modalities used in the past, surgical resection of the tumour with postoperative radiotherapy is preferred one. Advances in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy don’t have any impact on improved survival, which remains poor in this disease. We report two cases of malignant melanoma, which were treated at our institute

Aggressive Fibromatosis in Neck.

Aggressive fibromatosis (AF) is a locally aggressive infiltrative low-grade benign tumor that accounts for approximately less than 3% of all soft tissue tumors. In the head and neck region this tumor tends to be more aggressive and associated with significant morbidity. Aggressive surgery is a viable management option and may be successfully used as a single modality treatment, or in combination with radiotherapy. We report a rare case of AF in a 38 year old female, who presented with a painless mass over the left supraclavicular fossa, extending inferiorly into the thoracic inlet, which was excised successfully in toto with the help of cardiothoracic vascular surgeon (CTVS)

Nodular Fasciitis of Neck in Childhood.

Nodular fasciitis, is a benign, pseudo sarcomatous proliferative lesion of the soft tissue, which is frequently misinterpreted as sarcoma, both clinically and microscopically. It is a reactive lesion composed of fibroblasts/myofibroblasts and most commonly found in extremities and trunk. NF has been described in the head and neck region in 10-20% of cases. Many pathologists do not consider NF in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses arising in the Head neck region. NF that occurs in otherwise healthy individuals usually presents with a history of rapid growth, and is commonly found in the upper extremities and on the chest and trunk. The importance of otolaryngologists being aware of the existence of this entity in this area of the body is stressed. It has a confirmed perfectly benign clinical course, and simple excision, as tissue-sparing as possible, is the treatment of choice. A case of NF over the neck in a 05-year-old female not associated with trauma who presented with a localized mass over her left neck is presented

Pattern of Otorhinolaryngolic Diseases in Geriatric Population

Objective- To determine the pattern of otorhinolaryngological disorders in geriatric population and to establish a correlation with socioeconomic factors. Methods- A total of 1020 geriatric patients who attended the otorhinolaryngology department were included in the study. They were subjected to brief history, examination and the socioeconomic status. Results were analyzed by using appropriate statistical tests analyzing percentage and proportion. BG. Prasad’s classification was used to categories patients into classes based on the socioeconomic status of an individual. Investigations pertaining to the system involved were carried out and the diagnosis was made according ly. Results- The most common affected organ was ear (33%) and the most common disease diagnosed among geriatric patient assessed was presbycusis (25.2%). Although epistaxis, chronic pharyngitis and malignancy larynx were also commonly diagnosed. Among all patients’ males was on the lead and the middle-class patients mostly attended the otorhinolaryngology department. Conclusion- In present study the male patients formed the major bulk of geriatric patients. The majority of geriatric patients belonged to age group between 60 to 70years and most of them belonged to middle socioeconomic class. The aim of our study was to find out the pattern of otorhinolaryngological diseases in which we observed that most common affected organs among the geriatric patients was ear. Presbycusis out of all disorder was the most common ear disease among geriatric patients

Clinicopathological Study of Salivary Gland Tumors in Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: The study “Preoperative predictors of ossicular status in chronic suppurative otitis media” was undertaken in Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun. A total number of 124 patients who underwent “tympanomastoidcetomy” for CSOM were evaluated to correlate the preoperative predictors with intraoperative ossicular status. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out for 12 months period in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, SRHU, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun. Subjects were recruited from Inpatient Department planned for surgery. Each of the patients selected for the study was subjected to a detailed history and complete ear, nose and throat examination. Site and size of perforation, status of attic, middle ear mucosa status, presence of myringosclerosis, tympanosclerosis, granulations and cholesteatoma were noted in each patient. Degree and type of hearing loss was evaluated via pure tone audiometry. Results: Most of the patients belonged to the age group of less than 40 years, with maximum patients falling in the age group of 21-30 years i.e.,39 (31.45%) patients. The average age of patients was 29.39±10.79 years. Female predominance was seen with male to female ratio being 1:1.33. More cases were from rural areas comprising of 81 (65.3%) cases while 43 (34.6%) resided in urban areas. Ear discharge was the most common presenting complaint seen in 109 cases (87.90%) followed by hearing loss which was present in 100 cases (80.64%). Unilateral ear discharge present in 89 (81.65%) and 20 (18.34%) had bilateral ear discharge. Conclusion: Blood-stained discharge was present in 40 (36.66%) patients out of which 28 (70%) patients had ossicular necrosis. On assessing the amount of ear discharge, highest number of patients had scanty discharge i.e., in 75 (68.80%), out of which 30 (40%) patients had ossicular necrosis. Mucopurulent discharge was seen in highest number of patients i.e., in 68 (62.38%) out of which 30 (44.1%) had ossicular necrosis. Associated symptoms of vertigo were present in 28 patients (22.5%) out of which 16 patients (57.1%) had ossicles necrosed. On findings of otoscopy and otoendoscopy, perforation in pars tensa was seen in 82 patients (66.12%) out of which ossicular necrosis was present in 14 patients (17%). Highest incidence of ossicular necrosis was seen in 4 (4.83%) patients who had perforation involving both pars tensa and pars flaccida

Giant Parapharyngeal Space Pleomorphic Adenoma Causing Acute Airway Obstruction

Primary parapharyngeal space (PPS) tumors are rare, representing only 0.5% of all head and neck neoplasms. About 80% of tumors of this space are benign, and 20% are malignant. They often pose therapeutic and diagnostic problems due to variable non-specific symptoms and the complex anatomy of this space. Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common benign tumor of this space. It presents as an asymptomatic mass causing mild bulging in the soft palate or tonsillar region, or fullness near the angle of the mandible in the neck. We report the case of a 60-year-old male admitted to the emergency department with breathing difficulty and acute stridor. He was unable to maintain oxygen saturation, and an emergency tracheostomy was performed. Radiological and cytological evaluation were performed, and the patient was diagnosed as having primary PPS pleomorphic adenoma. The tumor was excised via the transcervical approach. The rarity of tumor in this space and unusual life-threatening presentation prompted the authors to report this case. To our knowledge, this is the third case reported worldwide of a pleomorphic adenoma causing upper airway obstruction and acute respiratory failure

Superparamagnetic and Perfect-Paramagnetic Zinc Ferrite Quantum Dots from Microwave-Assisted Tunable Synthesis

The properties of quantum dot (QD)-size material depend directly upon its unit cell structure. Spinel zinc ferrite QD powder is produced via a one-pot microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis for just 5 min. Varying initial pH values of the preparation sol from 6 to 12 enlarges the Zn/Fe atomic ratio (by ca. 10%), unit cell volume (by ca. 0.5%), particle size (3.5-4.5 nm), and degree of inversion. This leads to a change in the magnetic behavior of the QD-size zinc ferrite from a superparamagnetic to a perfect paramagnetic type. This novel finding points that the significant changes in the inherent structural parameters of spinel ZnFe2O4 QDs (Zn/Fe ratio and degree of inversion) induced by the systematic pH change of the preparation sol are exclusively responsible for the observed unique magnetic behavior instead of mere QD (single domain) nanosizes

Plumbagin inhibits invasion and migration of breast and gastric cancer cells by downregulating the expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing evidence indicates that the interaction between the CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) and its ligand CXCL12 is critical in the process of metastasis that accounts for more than 90% of cancer-related deaths. Thus, novel agents that can downregulate the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis have therapeutic potential in inhibiting cancer metastasis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this report, we investigated the potential of an agent, plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1, 4-naphthoquinone), for its ability to modulate CXCR4 expression and function in various tumor cells using Western blot analysis, DNA binding assay, transient transfection, real time PCR analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and cellular migration and invasion assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that plumbagin downregulated the expression of CXCR4 in breast cancer cells irrespective of their HER2 status. The decrease in CXCR4 expression induced by plumbagin was not cell type-specific as the inhibition also occurred in gastric, lung, renal, oral, and hepatocellular tumor cell lines. Neither proteasome inhibition nor lysosomal stabilization had any effect on plumbagin-induced decrease in CXCR4 expression. Detailed study of the underlying molecular mechanism(s) revealed that the regulation of the downregulation of CXCR4 was at the transcriptional level, as indicated by downregulation of mRNA expression, inhibition of NF-κB activation, and suppression of chromatin immunoprecipitation activity. In addition, using a virtual, predictive, functional proteomics-based tumor pathway platform, we tested the hypothesis that NF-κB inhibition by plumbagin causes the decrease in CXCR4 and other metastatic genes. Suppression of CXCR4 expression by plumbagin was found to correlate with the inhibition of CXCL12-induced migration and invasion of both breast and gastric cancer cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, our results indicate, for the first time, that plumbagin is a novel blocker of CXCR4 expression and thus has the potential to suppress metastasis of cancer.</p