[Evaluation of efficacy of acupuncture on treatment of tinnitus resistance]

Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of any appropriate external stimulation. About 1-2% of the population are severely disturbed by tinnitus and it may disrupt daily activities and sleep. Several treatments are applied for this disorder and one of these treatments is acupuncture. The aim of this study was to finding scientific evidence for efficacy of acupuncture on this disorder that is resistance to conventional treatment modalities. This study is a clinical trial. In this study, 50 patients with resistance tinnitus to conventional treatment who referred to ENT ward of Emam Khomeini university hospital, Ahvaz, were chosen and divided to two groups [each 25 cases]. The first group was used as treatment group [with acupuncture] and the other control group. Tinnitus Handicap Inventory questioners were completed for both groups before and after the allocated treatment period. All of the 25 treatment group cases underwent daily treatment for 15 secessions of 30 minutes each. The reasults analysis with SPSS software. In case and control groups, the males were 56%, 52% and the females were 44%, 48%. The mean period of disorder in case and control groups were 5.8 and 5.6 years respectively. The results of THI were according to assessment quantity and quality. In case group, there had significant difference before and after treatment [P=0.03]. Also, the case group after treatment and group control had significant difference [P=0.02]. According to this finding, it is thought, the acupuncture is useful for treatment of tinnitus, especially in this condition that there is no proven treatment for it. More studies are necessary to find the better management methods

[ incidence of thyroid papillary cancer in the contralateral lobe]

Papillary thyroid cancer [PTC] usually has an excellent prognosis with more than 90% survival rate at 10 years. Papillary thyroid cancer may be diagnosed with histological examination in patients underwent lobectomy. The necessity of performing a completion thyroidectomy [CT] is still a controversial issue. This study investigated the rate of contraralateral PTC in patients, who had completion thyroidectomy. We retrospectively reviewed the medical and pathologic data of 82 patients with PTC. These patients underwent thyroid lobectomy, followed by completion thyroidectomy during 1997-2007. Thirty three patients [40%] had PTC in the contralateral lobe. There was no significant difference between patients with or with out contralateral tumor regarding gender, age, primary tumor size or time to completion thyroidectomy.The presence of lymph node metastases and multifocality of cancer in the ipsilateral lobe increased the risk of residual disease in the contralateral lobe. The postoperative complication were infrequent and included: 6 [3.7%] patients with transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, 2 [2.5%] patients with permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, 9 [11%] patients with transient hypocalcemia and 1 [1.2%] patient with permanent hypoparathyroidism. Five patients [6%] developed hematoma in 2 of whom re-exploration was required. The prevalence of residual disease in the contralateral lobe of patients with PTC is significant. We recommend that a completion thyroidectomy should be considered for PTC treatment. Completion thyroidectomy can be done safely with acceptable low morbidity