Extramedullary nasal plasmacytoma arising after polyp excision and the role of the inflammation in tumor development: A case report.

A correlation between inflammation and cancer has been identified in the case of nasal cancer, however a specific connection between nasal inflammation and extramedullary nasal plasmacytoma (ENP), to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been determined. The present case report describes a patient affected by ENP, in who the tumor arose in the same area, from which a nasal polyp was previously surgically removed, five months after the polyp excision. The patient underwent surgical endoscopic tumor asportation without being treated with radio-chemotherapy. ENP was totally removed via surgery and no signs of recurrence were identified by endoscopy or magnetic resonance imaging during the last check-up 1 year after tumor asportation. It was hypothesized that in this elderly patient, who was exposed to viral infections and pollution for several years, ENP may be correlated to the inflammatory process that occurred after surgery, and this likely contributed to a neoplastic mutation in B-cells.

Can the Jankovic-assessment be used as an alternative to electromyography? A cross-sectional study on facial dystonia patients treated with Botulinum toxin.

PURPOSE: This study aims to quantitatively compare the Jankovic assessment (JA) with electromyography (EMG)-based measures for assessing changes in facial movements in patients with facial dystonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen patients (five males and eight females) affected with different forms of facial dystonia (hemifacial spasm and synkinesis) participated in this study. All patients were treated with Botulinum Toxin (BTX) and evaluated with the JA scale and EMG-based measures, including motor unit potentials (MUP) latency and presence of polyphasic potentials before and after BTX injection. Correlation between the JA scores and the EMG-based measures was calculated. Statistical analysis was performed with the Pearson test. RESULTS: Correlation between the JA scores and the EMG-based measures was found to be statistically significant, both before and after treatment with BTX. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: JA scores significantly correlated with more objective EMG-based measures, suggesting that the JA scale can be used to assess facial movement changes, for example elicited by a treatment such as BTX injection. Thus, in facial dystonia patients, the JA scale may be used for evaluating treatment outcomes as a valid and low-cost alternative to EMG.

The use of povidone-iodine and sugar solution in surgical wound dehiscence in the head and neck following radio-chemotherapy.

Povidone-iodine is known for successfully treating surgical wounds; the combination between povidone-iodine and sugar, also called Knutson's formula, has been proposed to improve wound healing. Currently, no studies have investigated the effects of Knutson's formula to treat defects in wound closure following radio-chemotherapy in the head and neck region. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Knutson's formula in improving the wound-healing process in patients who underwent radio-chemotherapy after surgery for head and neck cancer. The study, conducted from August 2013 to January 2017, included a sample of 34 patients (25 males and 9 females; age range: 60-75 years) treated with radio-chemotherapy after head and neck cancer surgery. All patients suffered from defect of wound regeneration. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: patients in the study group (n = 18) were treated with Knutson's formula; patients in the control group (n = 16) were treated with traditional topical drugs. In the study group, 16 of 18 (88.9%) patients reached complete wound closure 1 month after treatment, with no wound infections. In the control group, only three patients (18.7%) showed complete wound closure within a month; in addition, one patient required systemic antibiotic treatment because of supra-bacterial infection of the wound. In our sample, the combination of povidone-iodine and sugar had a higher success rate compared with traditional topical treatment in the treatment of wound defect closure in oncological patients who underwent radio-chemotherapy.