Which method is successful in closure of acute oroantral communication? A retrospective study

BACKGROUND

This study's purpose is to retrospectively evaluate the success of surgical methods used in treating Oroantral Communication (OAC).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study was designed as a retrospective cohort study on patients who developed OAC after surgery maxillary posterior region. The records of patients previously treated with OAC were scanned through the hospital registry software. A data set was created by recording patients' age, gender, systemic disease, etiological reasons, and surgical methods. The primary predictor variable was the surgical method used to treat OAC. Other variables were age, gender, systemic disease and etiological reasons. The primary outcome was oroantral fistula development after the first surgical intervention. The patients who were positive in clinical examination and Valsalva test on control days were considered unsuccessful. One-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for quantitative variables in more than two groups. Pearson chi-square test was used to compare categorical data.

RESULTS

This retrospective cohort study was completed with 605 patients who met the study criteria among 95,883 patients who underwent surgery in the maxillary posterior region. The incidence of OAC was 0.63%. The patients consisted of 238 female and 367 male patients. The mean age was 41.06±14.48 years. Buccal flap and Buccal Fat Pad methods were used most frequently in the treatment. While treatment was completed with the first surgical intervention in 592 (97.85%) patients, OAF developed in 13 (2.15%) patients. No statistically significant relation existed between surgical technique and OAF development (p>0.005). The success rate of the Buccal Flap method was 98.7%, and the Buccal Fat Pad method was 95.8%.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study showed that noninvasive methods in openings smaller than 5 mm and surgical treatment methods in openings larger than 5 mm have a high success rate with the limitations of present study.

Diffusion-weighted imaging of the liver in assessing chronic liver disease: effects of fat and iron deposition on ADC values

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to evaluate whether fat and iron affect the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the liver parenchyma in the settings of fibrosis and inflammation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We evaluated the diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) of 58 patients with chronic liver disease and 48 control subjects. Liver specimens of patients were assessed for fibrosis, necroinflammation, iron, and steatosis. Liver ADCs, spleen ADCs, and normalized liver ADCs (defined as the ratio of the liver ADC to spleen ADC) values were analyzed after stratifying patients with either fibrosis stages or histology activity index (HAI) scores. The relationship between ADC values and histopathological findings was studied using multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

The median liver and normalized liver ADC values were significantly lower in higher stages of fibrosis and HAI scores. Compared to the control group, patients with the highest stages of fibrosis and inflammation had significantly higher spleen ADCs. The effect of the fibrosis stage on liver ADC and normalized liver ADC values was significant in the setting of inflammation, whereas the degree of steatosis and iron grade did not affect these ADC values.

CONCLUSIONS

ADC values can distinguish both later stages of liver fibrosis and inflammation. There is no significant effect of fat and iron on ADC values. Therefore, DWI may be reliable in evaluating liver fibrosis and inflammation.

The expression of Forkhead transcription factors in decidua and placenta in patients with missed abortion

BACKGROUND

Forkhead transcription factors 3a (FOXO3a) has pleiotropic biological functions in the female reproductive tract. FOXO3a has a function in decidualization, in placental development, and also in inhibition of apoptosis. This study aims to investigate a possible role of FOXO3a in missed abortion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Decidual and placental tissue samples were obtained from the women with unwanted pregnancy as the control group and with missed abortion as the patient group. Immunohistochemistry technique was utilized to compare FOXO3a expression of the decidual cells in uterine decidual stroma and cytotrophoblast-syncytiotrophoblast cells in placental villous stroma. Immunohistochemistry was evaluated semiquantitatively utilizing the H-score technique. Results: It was demonstrated that H-Scores of FOXO3a expression in both uterine decidual stroma were increased in the missed abortion group (255.83 +/- 12.41) than in the normal pregnancy group (133.33 +/- 17.43). It was also shown that there was no difference between non-decidual area of the endometrium of the normal pregnancy and the missed abortion group (30.33 +/- 4.32; 39.66 +/- 14.30, respectively) and placental villous stroma (13.00 +/- 1.89; 13.00 +/- 1.67, respectively). However, the immunoreactivity of cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast cells significantly increased in the missed abortion group (18.83+1.47; 322.00 +/- 6.06, respectively) than in the normal pregnancy group (11.00 +/- 1.26; 254.00 +/- 8.17, respectively) (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

These data support the hypothesis that increased FOXO3a expression in missed abortion may prevent the discharge of dead fetus to maintain decidualization, prevention of oxidative stress, immunomodulation, and inhibition of apoptosis.

An evaluation of lifestyle changes in cancer patients after diagnosis

PURPOSE

Cancer is an increasingly important health problem, and is second only to cardiovascular disease as cause of death. Cancer diagnosis causes significant changes in patients and their families, and social relationships are affected. For this reason, we examined the lives of patients subsequent to their diagnosis and sought to determine any changes in their lifestyles.

METHODS

Between March 16th and September 30th, 2011, a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was distributed via a face-to-face interview to 150 patients at the Marmara University Hospital Oncology Unit. Each patient was queried during the administration of his/her chemotherapy. Six of the questions were independent choices, and 14 were dependent (multiple choice). A Local Ethics Committee approval was obtained.

RESULTS

Of the 150 patients, 70 (46%) were male and 80 female, and their median age was 55 years (range: 22-82). Following their diagnosis, 71% of males and 50% of females reported that they were complying with guidelines for a healthy lifestyle, and 19% of the patients said that they were eating healthier food. At the time they filled in the questionnaire, 61% said that they were hopeful; however, close to 10% said that they felt hopeless. Approximately 53% of the participants said that following their diagnosis they had a more sympathetic view of the underserved and underprivileged.

CONCLUSIONS

It was surprising that an unexpectedly high percentage of the respondents reported that they did not make any changes in their lifestyles after their diagnosis of cancer, including eating healthier food. It appears Turkish cancer patients are coping with cancer in different means and ways than we expected of them.

Intraosseous lipoma presenting as a sphenoid sinus mass

Intraosseous lipoma is an uncommon mesenchymal tumor that is frequently found in appendecular skeleton. In extremely rare conditions, it can appear in sphenoid bone, and only 2 cases have been described in literature until now. We present a case of lipoma in the body of the sphenoid bone mimicking sphenoid sinus tumor. A 16-year-old man presented to Department of Otorhinolaryngology with a complaint of nonspecific headache. There were any clinical findings on physical examination. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed and the diagnosis was made on these imaging findings. Other diagnostic technique, invasive histopathological assessment was not necessary. To our knowledge, this is the first case of lipoma in the body of the sphenoid bone with indentation to sphenoid sinus. The patient has been followed-up radiologically without the need for surgery for two years.

Brucellar breast abscess

Brucellosis is an endemic disease seen in many countries. It may affect different organ systems. Brucellar breast abscess is a rare entity. We report the radiological findings of breast abscess due to brucella. A 63-year-old female was investigated with mammography, ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). A mass measuring 25 x 20 x 15 mm was detected in the left breast on mammography and ultrasonography. The mass was homogenously hyperintense on T1- and T2-weighted MRI images. On contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images, peripheral capsular enhancement was found. MR spectroscopic analysis of the mass revealed elevated lipid and acetate peaks. The diagnosis was provided by fine needle aspiration biopsy and specimen culture. The lesion had diminished in size after 12 months' treatment with combined tetracycline and rifampicine.

Borderline tumor of the lymph node associated with bilateral serous borderline tumor of the ovary: case report

The pathological diagnosis of a patient who was operated on for ovarian cancer was serous borderline tumor of the ovary. At the same time, pathological examination of one of the paraaortic lymph nodes revealed borderline tumor of the lymph node. We also searched the literature associated with this case.

«Stechen statt Sprechen»: Valenz und Aktivierbarkeit von Stereotypen über Türken

Zusammenfassung: In zwei Untersuchungen gingen wir der Frage nach, was die Inhalte stereotypen Wissens über in Deutschland lebende Türken und Deutsche sind, und ob diese Stereotype automatisch aktiviert werden. In der ersten Untersuchung befragten wir deutsche ProbandInnen (n = 20) über ihr Wissen zu kulturellen Stereotypen über Türken und Deutsche. Die ProbandInnen generierten zwar gleich viele negative Aussagen über das deutsche und türkische Stereotyp, aber deutlich weniger positive Aussagen über das türkische Stereotyp. In der zweiten Untersuchung überprüften wir die automatische Aktivierbarkeit der Kategorien «türkisch» und «deutsch» in einer Priming-Anordnung. ProbandInnen (n = 18) beurteilten türkische und deutsche Vornamen, nachdem zuvor ein mit dem jeweiligen Stereotyp konsistenter oder inkonsistenter Prime vorgegeben worden war. Die Vorgabe konsistenter Primes führte zu einer Beschleunigung der Reaktionszeiten. Die Ergebnisse unterstützen die Hypothese, daß die sozialen Kategorien «Türkisch» und «Deutsch» durch assoziierte Attribute automatisch aktiviert werden.