Aural polyp with facial asymmetry in an unfortunate infant

@#Temporal bone rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive entity that simulates chronic otitis ear infection. It is the most common soft tissue sarcoma amongst pediatric patients. Herein, we would like to report a case of temporal bone rhabdomyosarcoma involving a 2-year-old boy who presented with a one-month history of otorrhea with facial asymmetry. Early treatment led to remission of this severe neoplasm

A hard left supraclavicular mass in a young boy— is it cancer?

@#A 12-year-old boy was referred to our ENT clinic with an incidentally discovered left supraclavicular mass that was suspected to be malignant. He was asymptomatic and had no prior illnesses. Neck examination found a fixed, hard, non-pulsatile, and non-tender mass measuring 2 cm in diameter in the left supraclavicular fossa. Rest of the ENT assessment, chest and upper limb neurovascular examinations were unremarkable. The patient’s full blood count was within the normal range.

Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma presented as a gigantic tumor: treatment and diagnostic challenges

Parotid gland surgery can be challenging due to intricate relationship between the gland and facial nerve. Besides complete removal of the lesion, the main focus of surgery is centered on the facial nerve. Surgery can be technically demanding especially when the tumor is large or involves the deep lobe. We report a patient with a 30-year history of gigantic parotid mass, which initial fine-needle aspiration cytology reported as pleomorphic adenoma. The tumor, weighing 1.3 kg, was successfully resected with facial nerve preservation. Histopathological examination of the excised mass confirmed as carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma [CaExPA] of adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified type. We describe the specific surgical and reconstruction techniques for successful removal of large parotid tumors with facial nerve preservation. To our knowledge, this is the heaviest CaExPA of the parotid gland in South-East Asian region

Antifungal effect of Malaysian Aloe vera leaf extract on selected fungal species of pathogenic otomycosis species in vitro culture medium

Objectives: Aloe barbadensis miller or Aloe vera has been used for therapeutic purposes since ancient times with antifungal activity known to be amongst its medicinal properties. We conducted a pilot study to determine the antifungal properties of Malaysian Aloe vera leaf extract on otomycosis species including Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans

Methods: This laboratory-controlled prospective study was conducted at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Extracts of Malaysian Aloe vera leaf was prepared in ethanol and solutions via the Soxhlet extraction method. Sabouraud dextrose agar cultured with the two fungal isolates were inoculated with the five different concentrations of each extract [50 g/mL, 25 g/mL, 12.5 g/mL, 6.25 g/mL, and 3.125 g/mL] using the well-diffusion method. Zone of inhibition was measured followed by minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC]

Results: For A. niger, a zone of inhibition for alcohol and aqueous extract was seen for all concentrations except 3.125 g/mL. There was no zone of inhibition for both alcohol and aqueous extracts of Aloe vera leaf for C. albicans. The MIC values of aqueous and alcohol extracts were 5.1 g/mL and 4.4 g/mL for A. niger and since no zone of inhibition was obtained for C. albicans the MIC was not determined

Conclusions: The antifungal effect of alcohol extracts of Malaysian Aloe vera leaf is better than the aqueous extract for A. niger [p < 0.001]. Malaysian Aloe vera has a significant antifungal effect towards A. niger

rare differential diagnosis of a solitary anterior neck mass

Patients with anterior neck masses commonly present to otorhinolaryngology clinics, but there are limited differential diagnoses for such lesions. Common ones include thyroid nodule and thyroglossal duct cyst. In an elderly patient, a differentiated thyroid carcinoma should be suspected especially if it moves with swallowing. We encountered a typical presentation of a solitary thyroid nodule-like mass with the exception of pulsation in a 65-year-old female. Further investigation, using neck ultrasonography, revealed that it was a variant of right common carotid artery arising from the left common carotid artery. Knowledge of such variants is of great importance as ignorance of such a variation may lead to inadvertent surgical complications during procedures