Paget's disease with craniofacial and skeletal bone involvement.

Paget's disease is a metabolic disorder of bone caused due to defect in the remodelling process and is very common in western countries but is very rare in Asians and Africans. It was first described by a British scientist Sir James Paget in 1877. It can be monostotic or polyostotic depending on the number of bones involved. It most commonly affects older people of more than 50 years. Disease involvement can be symptomatic or asymptomatic depending on the extent of the disease process. Diagnosis of Paget's disease can be made by raised serum alkaline phosphatase levels, radiological examination and by radioisotope bone scans.

Comparison of Serum Fucose Levels in Leukoplakia and Oral Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Tumor markers, designated as a broad group of substances produced by malignancies, could be in the form of biochemical substances, immunological substances, cell surface changes and genetic alterations. Cancer, a disorder of cellular behavior is characterized by alteration of serum glycoproteins. L-fucose, a hexose, which is the terminal sugar in most of the plasma glycoproteins, may be useful as a tumor marker for the detection, monitoring and prognostic assessment of malignancies. The aim of the study was to ascertain the role of serum fucose as a biomarker for early detection of oral cancer and to compare serum fucose levels in healthy controls, leukoplakia and oral cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 60 (100.0%) subjects, who were grouped as 20 (33.3%) control subjects, 20 (33.3%) squamous cell carcinoma patients and 20 (33.3%) leukoplakia patients. Fucose estimation was done using UV-visible spectrophotometry based on the method as adopted by Winzler using cysteine reagent. The results were analyzed statistically using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests. RESULTS: Results showed a high significance in serum fucose in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and leukoplakia subjects compared to normal controls. There was a gradual increase in the values noted from control to leukoplakia and to squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Estimation of serum fucose may be a reliable marker and can be used as an effective diagnostic biomarker in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Outcome of Palliative and Radical Radiotherapy in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma - a Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: The treatment selection for the oral squamous cell carcinoma remains controversial. Radiation therapy or surgical excision of the lesion can be applied as the sole treatment or it can be used in combination with other treatment modalities. Radiotherapy is considered to be the safest of all the treatment modalities and can be used in several situations for oral and oropharyngeal cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival outcome differences in patients treated with radical and palliative radiotherapy as the primary treatment modality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included a total of 47 patients with oral cancer reporting to our hospital between years 2009 to 2010. The age group for the selected patients was more than 65 years, treated with radical and palliative radiotherapy with no prior surgical interventions. Patients were evaluated till Dec 2013 for overall survival time. RESULTS: Twenty nine patients were treated with radical radiotherapy as main stay of treatment, out of which 21 died during the follow up time with median survival of 352 ± 281.7 days with 8 patients alive. All the 16 patients were dead who received palliative radiotherapy with a median survival time of 112 ± 144.0 days. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective study showed improved overall survival time, loco regional control rates and reduced morbidity in patients treated with radical radiotherapy when compared to patients treated with palliative radiotherapy.