Maintenance of head and neck tumor on-chip: gateway to personalized treatment?

AIM: Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are solid tumors with low overall survival (40-60%). In a move toward personalized medicine, maintenance of tumor biopsies in microfluidic tissue culture devices is being developed. METHODOLOGY/RESULTS: HNSCC (n = 15) was dissected (5-10 mg) and either analyzed immediately or cultured in a microfluidic device (37°C) for 48 h. No difference was observed in morphology between pre- and postculture specimens. Dissociated samples were analyzed using trypan blue exclusion (viability), propidium iodide flow cytometry (death) and MTS assay (proliferation) with no significant difference observed highlighting tissue maintenance. Computational fluid dynamics showed laminar flow within the system. CONCLUSION: The microfluidic culture system successfully maintained HNSCC for 48 h, the culture system will allow testing of different treatment modalities with response monitoring.

Aetiopathology of maxillary swelling--a 3-year prospective study.

A wide variety of lesions and not necessarily a malignant tumour can cause maxillary swelling. Non-specificity of clinical and radiological features of these maxillary lesions makes their diagnosis difficult. Review of literature adds a little regarding the aetiopathological distribution of the various lesions causing maxillary swelling. We present our finding regarding the relative distribution of various conditions causing maxillary swelling. The awareness of the spectrum of pathology related to maxillary swelling is essential for correct diagnosis and treatment. Forty-eight patients who presented with a swelling of the maxilla to our hospital between May 1998 and April 2001 were prospectively studied regarding the clinical presentations, radiological features and histological findings. Maxillary swelling was found to be caused by malignant tumours in 54.2%, benign neoplasms in 22.9% and non-neoplastic lesions in 22.9%. Overall squamous cell carcinoma (22.9%) was the commonest lesion, tumour of vascular origin was the commonest benign neoplasm and odontogenic cyst was the commonest among the non-neoplastic lesions.