Membrane Assisted Palatal Fistula Closure in a Cleft Palate Patient: A Novel Technique.

Palatal fistula following cleft palate repair, is one of the considerable complications and remains a challenging problem to the surgeons. The reported recurrence rate of the fistula is between 33% to 37%. Due to fibrosis and poor vascularity of adjacent tissues, high recurrence rates are typical. Closure of palatal fistulas can be achieved by different surgical techniques like local, regional and distant flaps, local turnover flaps, pedicled flaps from oral mucosa, buccal fat pad flaps, inter-positional cartilage grafts can be utilized for management of small fistulas. For larger fistualas, tongue flaps, temporalis muscle flaps, musculomucosal flaps, nasal septal flaps and free flaps can be used. These procedures are often cumbersome and leave a raw nasal or oral surface, which may increase the incidence of postoperative problems or some flaps can be bulky and may require a second-stage procedure. Different synthetic materials such as alloderm, Poly-D and L-Lactic Acid or "PdLLA" and collagen membrane are used in multilayer repair represented by the nasal mucosa, the inter-positional graft and oral mucosa. These interpositional grafts provide a scaffold for in growth of tissues, revascularization and mucosal epithelialization. We present a case of closure of an oronasal fistula, using resorbable collagen membrane in three layered repair to avoid recurrence.

Intralesional Sclerotherapy - A Novel Approach for The Treatment of Intraoral Haemangiomas.

In infancy and childhood haemangiomas are the most common neoplasms in head and neck region with an occurrence of about 60%. Approximately 40%-50% of all haemangiomas resolve incompletely, leaving permanent changes in the skin, such as telangiectases, epidermal atrophy, hypopigmentation or redundant skin with fibro-fatty residue but a few stubborn, problematic haemangiomas may result in serious disfigurement and dysfunction, and even become life-threatening. Most haemangiomas are managed by conservative methods that include corticosteroids (either systemic or local injection), sclerotherapy, interferon-alpha, laser therapy, embolization, cryotherapy, and radiation. Due to risk of haemorrhaging, surgical removal for small vascular lesions is not considered and it is more invasive than sclerotherapy. This case report presents the efficacy of intralesional sclerotherapy for the management of haemangiomas on dorsum and lateral border of tongue.

Actinomycotic Osteomyelitis of Maxilla Presenting as Oroantral Fistula: A Rare Case Report.

Actinomycosis is a chronic granulomatous infection caused by Actinomyces species which may involve only soft tissue or bone or the two together. Actinomycotic osteomyelitis of maxilla is relatively rare when compared to mandible. These are normal commensals and become pathogens when they gain entry into tissue layers and bone where they establish and maintain an anaerobic environment with extensive sclerosis and fibrosis. This infection spreads contiguously, frequently ignoring tissue planes and surrounding tissues or organ. The portal of entry may be pulpal, periodontal infection, and so forth which may lead to involvement of adjacent structures as pharynx, larynx, tonsils, and paranasal sinuses and has the propensity to damage extensively. Diagnosis is often delayed and is usually based on histopathology as they are cultured in fewer cases. The chronic clinical course without regional lymphadenopathy may be essential in diagnosis. The management of actinomycotic osteomyelitis is surgical debridement of necrotic tissue combined with antibiotics for 3-6 months. The primary actinomycosis arising within the maxilla with contiguous involvement of paranasal sinus with formation of oroantral fistula is rare. Hence, we present a 50-year-old female patient with chronic sclerosing osteomyelitis of maxilla which presented as oroantral fistula with suppurative and sclerotic features.