ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS: To validate the effectiveness of a newly developed light-emitting diode (LED)-narrow band imaging (NBI) system for detecting early malignant tumors in the oral cavity. METHODS: Six men (mean age, 51.5 years) with early oral mucosa lesions were screened using both the conventional white light and LED-NBI systems. RESULTS: Small elevated or ulcerative lesions were found under the white light view, and typical scattered brown spots were identified after shifting to the LED-NBI view for all six patients. Histopathological examination confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. The clinical stage was early malignant lesions (T1), and the patients underwent wide excision for primary cancer. This is the pilot study documenting the utility of a new LED-NBI system as an adjunctive technique to detect early oral cancer using the diagnostic criterion of the presence of typical scattered brown spots in six high-risk patients. CONCLUSIONS: Although large-scale screening programs should be established to further verify the accuracy of this technology, its lower power consumption, lower heat emission, and higher luminous efficiency appear promising for future clinical applications.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Auricular tophi are firm deposits of monosodium urate in crystal form, which may slowly develop in subcutaneous tissue of the ear. Ear is not usual locations for gout tophi, but when this growth does occur, helix and the antihelix are common sites. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 64-year-old man who had multiple painless nodules over bilateral helix. An excisional biopsy was performed. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of biopsy specimens revealed a proteinaceous matrix that surrounded dissolved crystals, consistent with gout tophi. Bilateral auricular tophi are not common and may resemble a number of other diseases including squamous cell carcinomas, Kaposi's sarcoma, epidermal and dermoid cysts, rheumatoid nodules. Biopsy should be performed to rule out malignancy. CONCLUSIONS: Tophi of the auricle are usually asymptomatic but can become inflamed and occasionally ulcerate through the overlying skin. Chronic tophaceous gout is treated with dietary control and medication. Surgical excision is performed under local anesthetic if symptoms progression or cosmetically deformity is concerned.
Subject(s)
Antitubercular Agents/adverse effects , Ear Auricle/pathology , Gout/chemically induced , Gout/diagnosis , Uric Acid/metabolism , Biopsy , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , Diagnosis, Differential , Epidermal Cyst/diagnosis , Epidermal Cyst/pathology , Gout/pathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Rheumatoid Nodule/diagnosis , Rheumatoid Nodule/pathology , Sarcoma, Kaposi/diagnosis , Sarcoma, Kaposi/pathology , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/drug therapyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Satisfaction with amplification in daily life (SADL) may quantify satisfaction with hearing aids. We translated and validated a Chinese version of SADL (CSADL). DESIGN: The SADL was translated from English to Mandarin Chinese by two bilingual physicians. The CSADL was administered to hearing-aid users and tested for reliability and validity. STUDY SAMPLE: There were 155 hearing-aid users who completed the CSADL prospectively, and 39 subjects were retested after 4 to 6 weeks for test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The CSADL had good internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.63 to 0.92), within survey reliability (r = 0.54 to 0.69; P ≤ .05), and test-retest reliability (r = 0.93 to 0.98; P ≤ .05). The CSADL dimensions correlated well with worse-ear speech discrimination score (P ≤ .05). The CSADL global score significantly correlated with the general health (r = 0.236; P ≤ .05), vitality (r = 0.162; P ≤ .05), social functioning (r = 0.190; P ≤ .05), and mental health (r = 0.224; P ≤ .05) subscales of the Mandarin Chinese Taiwan version of the medical outcome 36-item short-form health survey. CONCLUSIONS: The CSADL is a valid and reliable questionnaire to evaluate satisfaction among Chinese hearing-aid users.
