Histological assessment of microtia cartilage, a potential source of autograft tissue in ear reconstruction.

Cartilage is a strong and flexible connective tissue that has many forms and functions in our body. While cartilage exhibits some forms of limited repair, for the most part, it is not particularly regenerative. Thus, in situations where patients require cartilage reconstruction, surgeons may use autografts to replace missing or damaged tissue. Cartilage tissues from different regions of the body exhibit histological differences and are in limited supply. Thus, it is important to characterize these differences to determine the most appropriate autograft source. In the case of microtia, a congenital deformity where the pinna is underdeveloped, reconstruction commonly utilizes cartilage sourced from a patient's own costal cartilage. This presents a potential morbidity risk. In this study, we evaluate the histological characteristics of microtia cartilage compared with normal auricular and costal cartilage obtained from human patients undergoing surgical resection. Histochemistry was used to evaluate cellularity, lipid content, and ECM content. Using a Bayesian statistical approach, we determined that while costal cartilage is the standard tissue donor, the microanatomy of microtia cartilage more closely reflects normal auricular cartilage than costal cartilage. Therefore, microtia cartilage may serve as an additional reservoir for cartilage during reconstruction.

COX-2 Overexpression in Schneiderian Papillomas.

BACKGROUND: Schneiderian papillomas (SP) are aggressive sinonasal tumors that occasionally extend into areas that are surgically unresectable. OBJECTIVE: evaluate the signifcance of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in SP. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry for COX-2 was performed on SP samples and middle turbinates from chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps controls obtained during surgical resection between 2009-2017. A positive stain was defined as having 10% or more cells exhibiting diffuse immunoreactivity. Comparisons were performed using Fisher Exact tests, t-tests, and ANOVA. RESULTS: The study included 67 tumor samples and 9 controls from two academic institutions. The mean age of the SP group was 55.4 years and 53.2 years in the control group (p = 0.71). Thirty-nine (58.2%) SP patients had previous surgery compared to 1 (11.1%) in the control group (p = 0.01). The most common tumor attachment sites were the maxillary (47.8%) and ethmoid (25.4%) sinuses. Fifteen (22.4%) SP samples stained strongly positive for COX-2 and 24 (35.8%) stained weakly positive compared to no positive stains in the control group (p < 0.01). When stratified by COX-2 intensity, there were no statistically significant differences in gender, smoking history, history of previous sinus surgery, site of attachment, papilloma subtype, or future recurrence between SP samples. CONCLUSION: COX-2 was overexpressed in 58.2% of SP cases, and strongly positive in 22.4% of cases, compared to no positive staining among controls. No significant differences in COX-2 expression were observed between SP subtypes or recurrent tumors. Further studies are warranted to evaluate COX-2 as a possible therapeutic target in tumors that overexpress the enzyme.