[The role of PET-CT in detecting unknown primary tumour in patients with cervical lymph node metastases]. / A PET-CT szerepe az ismeretlen primer tumorok kimutatásában manifeszt nyaki áttétes betegek esetében.

PET-CT examination was conducted with 440 patients treated at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010. Out of them 77 patients were selected with whom no examination of any sort (physical, pan-endoscopy, or any of the conventional imaging techniques) succeeded in identifying the primary tumour. In each case the primary examination (aspiration cytology and histology) verified cervical metastases, most of them being squamous cell carcinoma. The significance of PET-CT was retrospectively evaluated in cases of unknown primary tumour with verified cervical metastases. We tested the sensitivity of PET-CT in detection of the primary malignant tumour, and possible distant metastases or a second primary in order to plan an optimal treatment schedule for the patient. Patients with whom the examinations specified in the treatment protocol (physical examination, pan-endoscopy, conventional imaging, biopsy) had failed to diagnose the primary tumour were referred to PET-CT. In each case 18F-FDG tracer was used. In 21/77 patients (27%), the PET-CT yielded unequivocal evidence for the primary tumour confirmed by histology, as well. With 10 others (13%), the precarious diagnoses by various imaging techniques were confirmed by the PET-CT. False positive findings with PET-CT that were not verified either by histology or control examination tests occurred but in 10 patients (13%). Concerning the primary tumour, false negative result was obtained only with 3 patients (4%). It should be noted that their retrospective evaluation proved diagnostic errors, the primary tumours were visible in all the scans. With 33 patients (43%) PET-CT furnished no additional information compared to the previous examinations. In 10 patients, asymptomatic distant metastases and in 3 patients synchronous tumours were diagnosed. We also acknowledge that the significance of PET-CT using 18F-FDG is unquestionable in the detection of unknown primary tumours. It is strongly recommended to re-include the detection of unknown primaries in the approved national indication list of PET-CT. (Note, until January 1, 2008 it had been included!) PET-CT is capable of detecting a primary tumour, after all unsuccessful diagnostic examinations till then, in 25-40% of the cases. One cannot disregard the role and significance of PET-CT in the detection of asymptomatic synchronous tumours, or distant metastases. These benefits make PET-CT a suitable tool for the refinement of individually tailored treatment strategies leading to better therapeutic results and more favourable cost-benefit ratio.

[Role of fibula in replacement of mandible]. / A fibula szerepe a mandibula pótlásában.

The mandible and the fibula are two totally different bones of the human skeleton. The fibula is a long straight bone of the lower leg playing secondary role compared with the tibia. The mandible, or jaw bone, is the only facial bone that moves and has complex spatial structure. The blood supply of the mandible is mainly endosteal, the inferior mandibular artery, which is one of the more important branch of the maxillary artery is responsible for its arterial supply. The fibula shows the uniform pattern of periosteal blood supply receiving many small branches from the peroneal artery, and having only weak endosteal supply. The mandible articulates with the two temporal bone, and the fibula articulates with the tibia at the tibio-fibular syndesmosis and distally has a role in the formation of the lateral talocrural joint. The demand for mandibular replacement was approved simultaneously with the appearance of ablative surgery for head and neck cancer. As knowledge of physiology and pharmacology expanded in the twentieth century, major developments in the field of anesthesiology and surgery opened new windows of ablative cancer surgery that were previously unimaginable. Soldiers were badly wounded with extensive soft-tissue defects during World Wars and in certain countries, high gun ownership rates show substantial correlations with gun-related injuries. Health care development and the invention and wide-spread use of antibiotics revolutionized medical treatment and improved recovery rates and reduced mortality following trauma. Total or partial loss of the mandible without reconstruction incurs serious functional and psychological morbidity for patients. Prior to the development of advanced reconstruction options for mandibular defects, they were left with terrible cosmetic deformities. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, various attempts were made to replace the mandible but the major breakthrough was the appearance of the microvascular technique at the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties.

[Applicable methods of reconstruction for the replacement of soft tissue after the radical resection of oral tumors]. / Lágyrészhiányok pótlására alkalmazható rekonstrukciós módszerek szájüregi daganatok radikális eltávolítása után.

In Hungary the number of oral and pharyngeal cancers is alarmingly high. While the mortality rate in 1955 was 282, by 2005 it rose to 1567. However, in the last 1-2 years stagnation can be observed. Nevertheless, even now significant proportions of men and women are involved. Alcohol consumption and smoking are invariably the leading causes, but one cannot disregard the shortcomings of oral cancer screenings, either. Unfortunately, drastic changes in this field are not likely to occur in the near future. Numerous solutions have been developed for the replacement of soft tissue. In our article, we describe and evaluate four of them. When using these techniques, we were often successful in replacing soft tissue deficiencies.

[Our clinical experience with fibula free flap]. / Fibula-szabadlebennyel nyert tapasztalataink.

Oral cancer incidence in Hungary is strikingly high, even by international standards. In most cases the tumours are to be treated in advanced stage. Hence it follows that we are often forced to remove a part of the mandible, too. We usually use a fibula free flap to reconstruct the bone deficiency. In this paper we report on our clinical experience with fibula free flap.