Labyrinthine fistula is one of the most common complications associated with cholesteatoma. It represents an erosive loss of the endochondral bone overlying the labyrinth. Reasons for ...cholesteatoma-induced labyrinthine fistula are still poorly understood.
Evaluate patients with cholesteatoma, in order to identify possible risk factors or clinical findings associated with labyrinthine fistula. Secondary objectives were to determine the prevalence of labyrinthine fistula in the study cohort, to analyze the role of computed tomography and to describe the hearing results after surgery.
This retrospective cohort study included patients with an acquired middle ear cholesteatoma in at least one ear with no prior surgery, who underwent audiometry and tomographic examination of the ears or surgery at our institution. Hearing results after surgery were analyzed according to the labyrinthine fistula classification and the employed technique.
We analyzed a total of 333 patients, of which 9 (2.7%) had labyrinthine fistula in the lateral semicircular canal. In 8 patients, the fistula was first identified on image studies and confirmed at surgery. In patients with posterior epitympanic and two-route cholesteatomas, the prevalence was 5.0%; and in cases with remaining cholesteatoma growth patterns, the prevalence was 0.6% (p=0.16). In addition, the prevalence ratio for labyrinthine fistula between patients with and without vertigo was 2.1. Of patients without sensorineural hearing loss before surgery, 80.0% remained with the same bone conduction thresholds, whereas 20.0% progressed to profound hearing loss. Of patients with sensorineural hearing loss before surgery, 33.33% remained with the same hearing impairment, whereas 33.33% showed improvement of the bone conduction thresholds’ Pure Tone Average.
Labyrinthine fistula must be ruled out prior to ear surgery, particularly in cases of posterior epitympanic or two-route cholesteatoma. Computed tomography is a good diagnostic modality for lateral semicircular canal fistula. Sensorineural hearing loss can occur post-surgically, even in previously unaffected patients despite the technique employed.
A fístula labiríntica é uma das complicações mais comuns associadas ao colesteatoma. Representa uma perda erosiva do osso endocondral que recobre o labirinto. As razões para a ocorrência da fístula labiríntica induzida pelo colesteatoma ainda são mal compreendidas.
Avaliar pacientes com colesteatoma, a fim de identificar possíveis fatores de risco ou achados clínicos associados à fístula labiríntica. Os objetivos secundários foram determinar a prevalência de fístula labiríntica no estudo de coorte, analisar o papel da tomografia computadorizada e descrever os resultados auditivos após a cirurgia.
Este foi um estudo de coorte retrospectivo. Foram incluídos pacientes com colesteatoma adquirido de orelha média em pelo menos um lado sem cirurgia prévia que haviam sido submetidos à audiometria e tomografia computadorizada de orelha ou cirurgia em nossa instituição. Os resultados auditivos após a cirurgia foram analisados de acordo com a classificação de fístula labiríntica e da técnica empregada.
Analisamos um total de 333 pacientes, dos quais 9 (2,7%) apresentavam fístula labiríntica no canal semicircular lateral. Em 8 pacientes, a fístula foi identificada na tomografia computadorizada e confirmada durante a cirurgia. Em pacientes com colesteatomas epitimpânicos posteriores e de via dupla, a prevalência foi de 5,0%; e nos casos com padrão de crescimento de colesteatoma remanescente, a prevalência foi de 0,6% (p = 0,16). Além disso, a taxa de prevalência de fístula labiríntica entre pacientes com e sem vertigem foi de 2,1. Dos pacientes sem perda auditiva neurossensorial antes da cirurgia, 80,0% permaneceram com os mesmos limiares de condução óssea, enquanto 20,0% progrediram para perda auditiva profunda. Dos pacientes com perda auditiva neurossensorial antes da cirurgia, 33,33% permaneceram com a mesma deficiência auditiva, enquanto 33,33% apresentaram melhora da média de dos limiares de condução óssea aos tons puros.
A fístula labiríntica deve ser descartada antes do procedimento cirúrgico, particularmente nos casos de colesteatomas epitimpânicos posteriores e de dupla via. A tomografia computadorizada é uma boa modalidade diagnóstica para a fístula do canal semicircular lateral. A perda auditiva neurossensorial pode ocorrer pós-cirurgicamente, mesmo em pacientes previamente não afetados, a despeito da técnica empregada.
Evaluate hearing impairment in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma and investigate audiometric differences between children and adults.
Cross-sectional comparative study.
Tertiary hospital.
Three ...hundred twenty-three consecutive patients diagnosed as having acquired middle ear cholesteatoma in at least one ear (385 ears) between August 2000 and March 2013 and no surgical history (mean standard deviation {SD} age, 32.8 19.4 yr; 54.3% men and 34.8% children).
Pure-tone audiometry.
Air-conduction (AC) and bone conduction (BC) thresholds and air-bone gaps (ABGs) measured at the pure-tone average (PTA) and individual frequencies.
The mean (SD) AC and BC thresholds at the PTA were 46.8 (22.7) and 17.7 (17.5) dB, respectively. The mean (SD) ABG at the PTA was 29.6 (13.4) dB, and that at 500 Hz was significantly greater than the ABGs at the other frequencies. Only 3.6% of the ears had profound hearing loss, without a significant difference between children and adults. The AC and BC thresholds were significantly greater in adults at all the frequencies (p ≤ 0.05), but the ABGs were not significantly different between the age groups.
Acquired middle ear cholesteatoma is associated with significant hearing impairment, although profound hearing loss is rare. Adults have greater AC and BC thresholds than those in children but similar ABGs to children.
We evaluated the long-term results obtained in 402 patients with non-metastatic Ewing's sarcoma (ES) of the bone treated in a single institution with adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapies between ...1972 and 1992. Multivariate analyses showed male gender, age older than 14 years, high serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, axial location of the tumour, use of radiotherapy alone as a local treatment, and poor histological response to chemotherapy, to be independent, adverse prognostic factors for event-free survival (EFS). At a mean follow-up of about 18 years (10–30 years), 177 patients (44.0%) remained continuously free of disease, 2 died of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and 8 developed a second neoplasm (5 died, and 3 are alive and free of disease). 215 patients relapsed with metastases and/or local recurrence: 14 are alive and free of disease, 1 is alive with uncontrolled disease, and 200 died. The overall survival (OS) at real follow-ups of 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-years was 57.2, 49.3, 44.9 and 38.4%, respectively. We conclude that since local or systemic relapses, treatment-complications and second malignancies are more common after 5 years or more from the beginning of treatment; a long-term follow-up is mandatory for patients with ES.
AbstractOrgans from deceased donors with traumatic abdominal injury, peritoneal contamination and open abdomen are usually discarded due to risks of transmission of severe infections to the ...recipient. There are no specific recommendations regarding organ utilization from these donors, but they might be an unexplored source able to attenuate organ shortage. Herein, the first successful report of a case involving liver transplantation using a liver allograft procured from a deceased donor with an open abdomen is outlined. This donor was a young trauma patient in which peritoneal contamination had occurred following a gunshot wound. Also included in this the report is liver transplant from a donor, who also was a trauma victim with an enteric perforation. The decision-making process to accept liver allografts from donors with a greater risk of peritoneal infection involved the absence of uncontrolled sepsis or visible contamination of the cavity. Appropriate donor-recipient matching and adequate anti-infectious management might have contributed to a favorable outcome, which suggest that these donors can be used as alternatives to reduce organ shortage.
This study was performed to assess the prognostic value of the proposed histopathologic method to evaluate the response of the primary tumor to preoperative chemotherapy in Ewing's sarcoma.
The ...response to chemotherapy was evaluated from the specimens of 118 Ewing's sarcoma patients, who were preoperatively treated by chemotherapy alone. Responses were graded I to III (macroscopic viable tumor, microscopic viable tumor, and no viable tumor cells, respectively). Follow-up data were available for all patients, with a mean follow-up duration of 86 months (range, 30 to 158).
A statistically highly significant difference was observed in outcome among the three groups of patients. For patients with total necrosis (grade III response), the estimated 5-year disease-free survival rate was 95%, in contrast to 68% for grade II responders and 34% for grade III responders (P < .0001). This difference was also confirmed when any single group was compared with the other groups. Among the parameters tested, patient age and the size of tumor had some prognostic value.
The proposed histopathologic grading, to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy on the primary tumor, had the strongest correlation to clinical outcome. This method could therefore be used to identify patients with a high risk of recurrent disease. These patients could be randomized to receive alternative postoperative treatments to investigate whether more aggressive therapies will improve outcome.
Background/Aims: Paediatric primary follicular lymphoma of the testis (PPFLT) is exceptional: the few reported cases seem to lack BCL-2 gene rearrangement and/or protein expression. The aim of this ...study was to characterise a PPFLT arising in a 4 year old boy. Methods: This case was characterised using conventional histological analysis, immunohistochemistry, and a polymerase chain reaction based method for the detection of immunoglobulin VH chain rearrangements. Results: The neoplasm was staged IE/A; left orchiectomy and chemotherapy were performed, producing complete remission. Histology showed a predominantly follicular lymphoid infiltrate mainly composed of centroblast-like cells. The phenotype was CD20+, CD79a+, CD10+, bcl-6+, B cell specific activating protein+, κ light chain+, CD30−/+, interferon regulating factor 4−/+, c-myc−/+, λ light chain−, CD3−, bcl-2−, p53−, cytokeratin−, and placental alkaline phosphatase−. Lymphomatous elements were found within a CD21+ follicular dendritic cell network and 70% were positive for Ki-67/MIB-1. Molecular analysis revealed monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement and BCL-6 mutations, in the absence of BCL-2 major breakpoint and BCL-2 minor cluster region rearrangements, p53 mutations, and death associated protein kinase gene hypermethylation. Conclusions: These findings suggest a different pathogenesis of PPTFL compared with adult follicular lymphoma and might explain its favourable course in spite of aggressive histology.
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in children is sometimes characterized by a severe course, requiring prolonged administration of immunosuppressive therapy. Rituximab is able to cause selective in ...vivo destruction of B lymphocytes, with abrogation of antibody production. In a prospective study, we have evaluated the use of rituximab for the treatment of AIHA resistant to conventional treatment. Fifteen children with AIHA were given rituximab, 375 mg/m2/dose for a median of 3 weekly doses. All patients had previously received 2 or more courses of immunosuppressive therapy; 2 patients had undergone splenectomy. After completing treatment, all children received intravenous immunoglobulin for 6 months. Treatment was well tolerated. With a median follow-up of 13 months, 13 patients (87%) responded, whereas 2 patients did not show any improvement. Median hemoglobin levels increased from 7.7 g/dL to a 2-month posttreatment level of 11.8 g/dL (P < .001). Median absolute reticulocyte counts decreased from 236 to 109 × 109/L (P < .01). An increase in platelet count was observed in patients with concomitant thrombocytopenia (Evans syndrome). Three responder patients had relapse, 7, 8, and 10 months after rituximab infusion, respectively. All 3 children received a second course of rituximab, again achieving disease remission. Our data indicate that rituximab is both safe and effective in reducing or even abolishing hemolysis in children with AIHA and that a sustained response can be achieved in the majority of cases. Disease may recur, but a second treatment course may be successful in controlling the disease.
In 1991, the Italian Association for Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and the National Council of Research (CNR) initiated an Italian Cooperative Study (SE 91-CNR Protocol) with the main objective of ...improving the overall survival (SUR) and the event free survival (EFS) of children and young adults with localized Ewing sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumors of bone compared with a previous study (IOR/Ew2 Protocol).
Between November 1991 and November 1997, 165 patients were enrolled in this study, 160 of whom were evaluable. The patients were treated with a multimodal approach characterized by intensified chemotherapy, hyperfractionated and accelerated radiation therapy, and the addition of ifosfamide and etoposide to standard chemotherapy with vincristine, actinomycin-D, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide.
After a median follow-up of 37 months, 126 of the 160 evaluable patients remained free of disease recurrence. Thirty-one patients developed a disease recurrence (20 with disseminated disease).
The 3-year SUR and EFS rates found in the current study (83.6% and 77.8%, respectively) may be considered satisfactory. Only age at diagnosis < or =14 years and a good histologic response appeared to affect the outcome of patients with localized Ewing sarcoma positively. These results appear to demonstrate the efficacy of the addition of ifosfamide in induction chemotherapy to four-drug standard combination chemotherapy, as confirmed by the improved outcome in terms of 3-year EFS reported in the SE 91-CNR Protocol compared with the IOR/Ew2 Protocol (77.8% vs. 60.7%). In addition, the better outcome also could be explained by the change in treatment strategy with a trend toward the use of more surgery than radiation therapy compared with the authors' previous protocol.
Since 1993 pediatric patients affected by high-risk Ewing sarcoma for the presence at onset of a large pelvic mass and/or metastatic disease, were enrolled in a national pilot study comprehensive, ...finally, of a high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) procedure with hemopoietic stem cell support. The HDCT procedure considered as consolidation of the disease status obtained after the first-line therapy was followed by the reinfusion of granulokine colony-stimulating factor-primed (G-CSF) peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPCT). Here we present the results in terms of treatment-related toxicity, hospitalization and rescue of the bone marrow function, in 17 pediatric patients enrolled in such a pilot protocol and submitted to HDCT and PBPCT at the end of first-line therapy.