Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the nasal septum.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the nasal septum. BACKGROUND: Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a tumour of vascular origin and unknown aetiology, which occurs in all age groups. The most common locations are the liver, bone, lungs, and brain, with less common occurrence in head and neck regions, and no prior reports of origination from nasal septum. CASE REPORT: Here we report a case of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the nasal septum. A 62-year-old male patient attended our clinic with epistaxis and congestion in his left nasal cavity. Endoscopic examination revealed a mass within the left nasal passage. Clinical and histopathological examinations showed that the mass was a septum-originated epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. The mass was removed endoscopically using a transnasal approach. CONCLUSIONS: No recurrence was observed over 36 months of follow-up. Here we discussed this uncommon case along with a literature review.

Is pneumatization of middle turbinates compensatory or congenital?

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of concha bullosa (CB) and the association between the degree of pneumatization and the severity of septum deviation in both paediatric and adult groups by CT evaluation and to investigate whether the pneumatization of middle turbinates is compensatory or congenital. METHOD: We retrospectively reviewed digitally stored paranasal sinus CT images of 86 paediatric and 204 adult patients. The severity of the deviation and cross-sectional area of the pneumatized area of the CB were determined using tomography images. The septums were divided into three groups according to the severity of deviation. The cross-sectional area of the contralateral side divided by the cross-sectional area of the deviation was calculated and described as the interturbinate ratio. RESULTS: When bilateral CB was found, the pneumatization of the CB was more prominent on the contralateral side than on the deviation side in both the paediatric and the adult groups. However, we found that the interturbinate ratios were not statistically different between the paediatric and adult groups. Also, the interturbinate ratios were independent degrees of deviation in children and adults. The frequency of CB was low in the adult group compared with the paediatric group. CONCLUSION: Interturbinate ratios were not statistically different between paediatric and adult groups and were independent of the severity of deviation. These findings suggest that the pneumatization process is not compensatory.

A misdiagnosed keratoacanthoma turned out to be a metastatic parotid carcinoma.

Distinguishing keratoacanthoma from well-differentiated squamous-cell carcinoma is often difficult on account of the clinical and histopathological similarities between them. Since the outcome of treatment depends on identifying the correct diagnosis and having the correct treatment on time, it is essential to differentiate keratoacanthoma and squamous-cell carcinoma as soon and accurately as possible. A paradigmatic case is herein reported. An 85 year-old female underwent total parotidectomy and ipsilateral neck dissection due to the squamous-cell carcinoma of the parotid gland. The investigations, in order to determine whether the tumour was a metastatic or a primary one, led to a misdiagnosis. A prior skin lesion, which was excised over her left cheek one year ago in another clinic, was diagnosed as keratoacanthoma. However, the histopathological revision of the specimen revealed that the lesion was in fact a squamous-cell carcinoma. Thus the parotid tumour was accepted as metastatic squamous-cell carcinoma rather than primary squamous-cell carcinoma.

Molecular recognition based iron removal from human plasma with imprinted membranes.

The aim of this study is to prepare ion-imprinted poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (HEMA) based membranes which can be used for the selective removal of Fe3+ ions from Fe3+-overdosed human plasma. N-methacryloyl-(L)-glutamic acid (MAGA) was chosen as the ion-complexing monomer. In the first step, Fe3+ was complexed with MAGA and then, the Fe3+-imprinted poly(HEMA-MAGA) membranes were prepared by UV-initiated photo-polymerization of HEMA and MAGA-Fe3+ complex in the presence of an initiator (benzoyl peroxide). After that, the template (i.e., Fe3+ ions) was removed by using 0.1 M EDTA solution at room temperature. The specific surface area of the Fe3+-imprinted poly(HEMA-MAGA) membranes was found to be 49.2 m2/g and the swelling ratio was 92%. According to the elemental analysis results, the polymeric membranes contained 145.7 micromol MAGA/g polymer. The maximum adsorption capacity was 164.2 micromol Fe3+/g membrane. The relative selectivity coefficients of ion-imprinted membranes for Fe3+/Zn2+ and Fe3+/Cr3+ were 12.6 and 62.5 times greater than the non-imprinted matrix, respectively. The Fe3+-imprinted poly(HEMA-MAGA) membranes could be used many times without decreasing their Fe3+ adsorption capacities significantly.