Ultrasound-guided core biopsy in the diagnosis of parotid neoplasia: an overview and update with a review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate diagnosis of parotid neoplasia is a key to determine the most appropriate patient management choice, including the need for surgery. This review provides an update of the literature on current practice and outcomes of parotid tissue sampling techniques, with an emphasis on ultrasound-guided core biopsy (USCB) and comparison with fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). METHODS: A literature review of EMBASE, Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar was conducted. RESULTS: USCB has higher sensitivity, specificity and lower non-diagnostic rates than optimized FNAC. It also has a significantly higher sensitivity for the detection of malignancy. Significant complications post-USCB are uncommon, with only one reported case of tumour seeding and no cases of permanent facial nerve dysfunction. The technique is less operator-dependent than FNAC, with less reported variation in results between institutions. CONCLUSIONS: USCB can be considered as the optimum tool of choice for the diagnosis of parotid neoplasia. This would particularly be the case in centres utilizing FNAC with high non-diagnostic rates or reduced diagnostic accuracy when compared to USCB published data, or in centres establishing a new service. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: An update of the role and outcomes of USCB in the diagnosis of parotid gland pathologies.Research shows that USCB preforms better than FNAC, in terms of sensitivity and specificity, particularly in the case of malignant neoplasia.Complications following USCB were found to be higher than that of FNAC; however, no long-term major complications following either method have been reported in the literature.

Buttock wounds: beware what lies beneath.

A 25-year-old man presented to a major trauma centre with multiple stab wounds, most significantly to the right buttock. Triple-phase CT revealed no acute bleeding and his wounds were closed. In the month following injury, he re-presented seven times to the emergency department (ED) complaining of bleeding and wound breakdown. After his seventh ED attendance, he was examined under general anaesthesia. Intraoperatively, profuse arterial bleeding was encountered and the local major haemorrhage protocol was activated. The on-call consultant vascular surgeon attended and definitive control was achieved. A large haematoma had acted to tamponade ongoing arterial bleeding and an underlying pseudoaneurysm: a finding not reported, but present, on the initial CT angiogram. Following 24 hours in the intensive care unit, he was transferred to the surgical ward and discharged 4 days later. Regular review in the outpatient department over the following 9 weeks monitored successful wound healing.

Recurrent intra-oral herpes simplex 1 infection.

UNLABELLED: Human herpes simplex 1 virus (HSV-1) is a DNA virus that has the ability to lie latent and be subsequently re-activated at any point during a patient's life. In the immunocompetent patient, resolution of clinical signs and symptoms usually occurs spontaneously after 14 days. In the immunocompromised patient, healing is often delayed and the effects are much more debilitating. Indications for therapeutic regimes of systemic antiviral treatment are discussed. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Recurrent oral ulceration caused by HSV-1 may be seen by the general dental practitioner and can cause significant morbidity.