The quality of life in successful live-related renal allograft recipients in India.

BACKGROUND. The high cost of maintenance of haemodialysis makes most patients in India and elsewhere opt for a renal transplant. The degree of rehabilitation can best be assessed by evaluating the quality of life in successful recipients. METHODS. We studied vocational rehabilitation, social relations, sexual and married life, psychological status and life satisfaction in 51 successful live-related renal allograft recipients using Schwab's depressive scale, Bigot's life satisfaction index and the Kamofsky physical scale. RESULTS. Eight-four per cent of our patients had returned to their original jobs. Ninety-eight per cent of patients had a Kamofsky scale of 90-100 and 81% were leading a normal married life. Ninety-four per cent of them led an active social life. CONCLUSION. Successful live-related renal transplantation is associated with a good quality of life and should be the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage renal disease.

Multimodality management of a case of primary osteogenic sarcoma of the zygoma.

Craniofacial osteogenic sarcomas are rare primary malignant bone tumors and very few cases involving zygomatic bone were reported in literature. We present our experience of multimodality management of a case of primary osteogenic sarcoma of zygoma. Wide radical excision of the tumor including the parotid gland was done followed by three cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy and fifty Gy of external radiotherapy. The patient is disease-free at two years follow-up. Till 1970s, craniofacial osteogenic sarcomas were managed mainly by radical surgery with a high local failure rate. With the advances made in the field of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, multimodality therapy is playing a major role in the treatment of these aggressive tumors with better overall and disease-free survival.

Carcinoma of buccal mucosa: incidence of regional lymph node involvement.

Histopathological findings in 57 surgical specimens of T3 and T4 buccal mucosa cancers are reviewed. The incidence of the well-differentiated tumours (including verrucous carcinoma) was 61%. A moderate degree of lymphocytic infiltration of the tumour was present in 37% of patients. Histologically proven cervical lymph node deposits were present in only 16% of the patients. Amongst the group of patients with clinically enlarged lymph nodes, metastatic disease was histologically demonstrated in 17.5% at level I and 14% at level II of neck nodes. Amongst group of patients with no palpable nodes in the neck, metastatic disease was histologically demonstrated in 11.7% at level I and 9% at level II of neck nodes. These findings contra-indicate an elective neck dissection and indicate the need to confirm histologically the presence of lymph node deposits doing a radical neck dissection in patients with buccal mucosa cancer. This well-differentiated tumour has a much lower tendency to metastasize than cancers in other sites of the oral cavity.