Surgical outcomes of thyroid cancer patients in a tertiary cancer center in India

Background and Objectives: Salivary gland neoplasms are relatively uncommon. They have a wide variety of histopathological types with diverse biological behavior. It involves all the major and minor salivary glands in the head and neck. This article focuses on the various types of major salivary gland tumors treated at a tertiary cancer center along with their surgical morbidities and outcomes. Materials and Methods: Data of all the salivary gland neoplasms operated in the head and neck services between January 2012 and December 2013 were retrieved from a prospectively collected database. The clinical, demographic data and types of surgeries along with the morbidities were collated from the database and the details regarding the follow-up were collected from the electronic medical record. Results: Out of 235. cases registered, 107. patients were treated at our institute. The parotid gland was most commonly involved; majority were malignant lesions. Sixty-two patients were treatment naive at presentation. Majority presented with advanced disease. Superficial parotidectomy was the most common surgery performed and neck dissection was done in 27. patients. Facial nerve palsy was the most common complication following surgery. (16%). Sixty patients received adjuvant treatment. All patients on follow-up were alive at their last visit, with 10. patients having recurrence. Factors influencing the disease-free survival were extracapsular spread, tumor grade, and perineural invasion. Conclusion: The postoperative morbidities and outcomes for major salivary gland neoplasms in our series were acceptable and comparable to the results available in the literature. Appropriate treatment of the salivary gland neoplasm will yield good outcomes with acceptable morbidity.

Doughnut sign on FDG-PET scan in a ruptured lung hydatid cyst.

A 13-year-old girl, complained of fever and cough with mucoid expectoration associated with episodes of streaky haemoptysis. Past history was not significant. On examination vital signs were normal with a pulse oximetry saturation of 98 percent. Chest examination revealed decreased breath sounds in the left mammary and infra-mammary area.

(18)FDG PET in primary oat cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

The role of FDG-PET in oat cell carcinoma of the esophagus is hitherto unexplored. A MEDLINE search using the terms "small cell carcinoma" or "oat cell carcinoma" combined with "FDG-PET" yielded no report on this issue till date. We report, in this article, two cases depicting the usefulness of this modality in the management of this uncommon neoplasm. While reevaluation of unsuspected metastatic sites missed by other modalities suggest its role in M staging, whole body FDG PET (both baseline as well as post treatment) may find important role in treatment monitoring and evaluation in residual viable disease, taking into account the systemic nature of the disease.

Receptor-mediated endocytosis: An overview of a dynamic process.

The decade of the 70’s was remarkable for the insights that rapidly accumulated to provide us with an understanding of one of the fundamental processes of animal cell metabolism, namely, how mammalian cells ingest a host of extracellular substances to satisfy their various metabolic needs. It has long been appreciated that the surfaces of mammalian cells are in a continual state of flux. Surface membranes often fold inward and pinch of in a vesicular form trapping some of the contents of the extracellular material which are thus transported into the cell. This process is called endocytosis (reviewed in Silverstein et al., 1977). When extracellular fluids are taken up in this manner, the process is called fluid-phase endocytosis or pinocytosis. When solids are ingested, the process is called phagocytosis. Although quantitatively important over the long run, these modes of uptake are slow, nonspecific and dependent on the concentration of the substance in the extracellular medium. In recent years it has been recognized that animal cells have developed a specialized form of this vesicular transport system to selectively retrieve and assimilate macromolecules from the extracellular milieu with high efficiency. This process is called receptor-mediated endocytosis. In this review an attempt is made to collate and correlate the evidence establishing receptormediated endocytosis as a dynamic process that routes cell surface receptors and ligands through multiple intracellular compartments to their ultimate destination.