Schwannomas of head and neck and review of literature.

Benign nerve cell tumours have been given various names like schwannoma, neurilemmoma, neurinoma, neurofibroma, spindle cell tumours etc. Extra cranial head and neck schwannomas usually present as solitary and well-demarcated lesions. The lesion can cause secondary symptoms, such as nasal obstruction, dysphasia, and hoarseness, depending upon the location of the lesion. Fine needle aspiration cytology, CT scans, and MRI may be of limited help in the diagnosis of schwannomas. The treatment is complete surgical excision of the benign tumour and postoperative histopathological examination establishes the final diagnosis.

Pseudo tumoral laryngeal tuberculosis.

An 11-year-old female child presented with high grade intermittent fever and cough for a duration of 6-7 months and hoarseness of voice for 6 months. Skiagram of the chest showed evidence of miliary mottling. Direct laryngoscopic examination revealed inflammatory swelling over left vocal cord. The biopsy of the swelling showed chronic granulomatous lesion. Patient improved remarkably with anti-tubercular therapy.

Evaluation of tympanostomy tubes in middle ear affections.

One hundred cases of Chronic Tubotympanitis with or without effusion were treated by myringolomy and Grommet insertion in the tympanic membrane. 60% cases presented with effusion and 40% with tubal catarrh. Hearing loss of conductive type 15-45dB was the main feature in all the cases. The effusion (serous, mucoid and mixed type) was drained in 84% of the cases. The recovery in the state of middle ear was evident in 80% cases showing return to normal tympanogram of type 'A' from type 'C' and type 'B' variety suggesting equalisation of middle ear pressure with the atmospheric pressure after the Grommet insertion. Excessive bleeding (12%), Permanent perforation (8%), worsening of hearing (8%) and extrusion of grommet (4%) were the only complication observed.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of nasopharynx.

A rare case of Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma in a 5 year male child involving Nasopharynx with intracranial. secondaries is reported. The child presented with difficulty in breathing and swallowing with change of the voice and bleeding from nose and mouth off and on. Histopathology of the excised mass proved the diagnosis of RMS & CT scan showed secondaries in the left frontal & temporal to be of brain. In spite of the surgery and chemotherapy, the disease proved to be fatal within 3 months of diagnosis.