The use of platelet-rich fibrin in the surgical treatment of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw: 40 patients prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is defined as exposed bone in the maxillofacial region persisting for more than eight weeks in patients who are or were treated with antiresorptive or antiangiogenic agents and had no radiation therapy to the craniofacial region or obvious metastatic disease of the jaws. It is a recognised side effect of antiresorptive or antiangiogenic medication. To date, there is no specific gold standard treatment for MRONJ cases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the successful rate of surgical treatment with adjuvant local application of platelet rich fibrin. METHODS: 40 patients treated with necrotic bone resection and adjuvant local application of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) were included. Treatment outcomes were evaluated after 12 months. RESULTS: The outcome of surgical treatment was successful in 34 of all 40 patients (85%), in 12 months follow-up. If we evaluate only cases where removal of all necrotic bone was possible the success rate was increased to 94%. A significant association between size of necrotic bone and treatment response was found (P=0.014, Wilcoxon rank sum test with continuity correction). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment of MRONJ with adjuvant local PRF application proved to be very effective and safe, especially in early stages when all necrotic bone can be easily removed.

HPV, protein p16 and squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity is generally caused by the long-term impact of known risk factors, e.g. tobacco and alcohol, along with chronic traumatisation. A number of studies now implicate HPV infection in head and neck tumour carcinogenesis but the exact role of HPV infection in the oral cavity remains unclear. METHODS: In this study, we evaluated 78 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) for the expression of protein p16 in the context of HPV positivity and its influence on the overall survival rate, disease location, staging and grading. RESULTS: Regarding the tumour location, no significant difference was found between HPV-positive and HPV-negative patients, nor between p16-positive and p16-negative patients. There was also no trend in terms of HPV status and stage, and differentiation of carcinoma. There was no effect on HPV-positive patients relative to the time to progression (P=0.84) and overall survival rate (P=0.78). P16 positivity was not found to have an effect on the overall survival rate of patients (P=0.41) and there was no correlation between p16 positivity relative to the time to progression (P=0.66). CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the data suggest that there is no effect of HPV status on the prognosis of OSCC patients compared to other HNSCC locations.

Myosin heavy chain proteins are responsible for the development of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

We introduce a hypothesis that obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is primarily caused by an inherited reduced adaptability of upper airway striated muscles such that they cannot maintain patency when there is reduced consciousness (sleep). This reduced ability is caused by a deficiency of the genes for specific myosin heavy chain (MHC) proteins, which are the primary source of muscle adaptability in adults and were initially described in the chewing muscles. The development of OSAS must be linked to problems with striated muscle because affected patients are capable of normal breathing when awake but their respiratory parameters deteriorate during sleep; OSAS must, therefore, be caused by a factor that is voluntarily active during waking but inactive during sleep, and this can only be striated muscle. Congenital or acquired anatomical abnormalities are involved only partially, because OSAS patients with anatomical abnormalities do not begin to snore or to have apneas or hypopneas when lying in bed awake, but begin to do so only when sleeping.