maziar motiee- langroudi

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most critical head and neck cancers. Total laryngectomy is one of the main options for treating laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma responsible for forming pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF), which increases morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine PCF incidence and identify the factors associated with this complication.In a retrospective cohort study, 85 patients who underwent total laryngectomy at Imam Khomeini Hospital (Tehran, Iran) from 2011 to 2019 were selected as the study population. The presence/absence of PCF, weight, anemia status (Hb <12.5 g/dl), renal dysfunction status (GFR <90 mL/min/1.73m2), malnutrition status (Albumin <3.5 g/dl), and marginal involvement status was extracted from postoperative medical records. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 26.0. The overall incidence of PCF was 11.8%. The mean ±SD of the duration of hospitalization in patients with PCF was 32.40 ±14.75 days, and in patients without PCF was 16.89 ±7.05 days (P = 0.009). The mean ±SD of time to develop a fistula was 7.4 ±3.74 days. The statuses of anemia, malnutrition, renal dysfunction, surgical margin, history of radiotherapy, pharynx closure, gender, and age were unrelated to the incidence of PCF. Further studies with a larger sample size are recommended.

During functional neck dissection, the surgeon tries to preserve the internal jugular vein (IJV); however, the incidence of its narrowing or obstruction following modified radical neck dissection (MRND) or selective neck dissection (SND) varies between 0% and 29.6%. The most distressing complication of IJV thrombosis (IJVT) is pulmonary embolism. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of IJVT following selective or modified radical neck dissection.   

In this study, 109 neck dissections were performed with the preservation of the IJV on 89 patients from March 2011 to December 2012 in the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran. Ultrasound evaluation of the IJV was performed in the early postoperative period and three months after the surgery.  

The study population consisted of 62 male and 27 female patients with a mean age of 57+17.57 years. Ultrasound evaluation of the IJV among the participants (109 veins) indicated thrombosis in nine veins (8.25%) in the early postoperative period, four of which remained thrombotic and without flow three months after the surgery. Moreover, 96.33% of the IJVs were patent with a normal blood flow three months after the neck dissection. Among the evaluated IJVs, the only factor that showed a significant association with IJVT was the incidence of postoperative complications, including hematoma and seroma (P=0.01).
 

It seems that the most important factor for the prevention of the IJVT is a meticulous surgery and surgical complication avoidance during neck dissection.

In this study, we compared regional recurrence in patients who had a dissection of levels I-III or levels I-IV. Patients with tongue SCC who were node-negative both clinically and radiologically, and underwent elective supraomohyoid neck dissection (SOHND) or extended supraomohyoid neck dissection (ESOHND) between March 2012, and March 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. The two therapeutic groups were analyzed for the incidence of tumor recurrence and survival. The two groups had statistically similar demographic qualities. Surgery duration and complications were the same in both groups. Complications mainly included internal jugular vein and thoracic duct injury. Tumour size was 46.2% T1, 40.4 % T2, and 13.3% Tx, being statistically similar in both groups. Tumour size had no meaningful correlation with the occurrence of occult neck metastasis in both groups. Local recurrence was more in ESOHND patients, but regional recurrence was similar in both groups. The survival rate was alike in both groups. No significant differences in tumor recurrence and mortality rate were found between patients treated with SOHND versus ESOHND. Thus, SOHND could be considered as a sufficient treatment for early-stage tongue SCC.

The non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (NRLN) is an infrequent variant of inferior laryngeal nerve that takes an unusual course. Since this is a rare anatomic variation, operations on these patients carry a great risk of laryngeal nerve injury.

A 25-year-old woman with papillary thyroid carcinoma and cervical lymphadenopathy underwent total thyroidectomy and bilateral neck dissection levels II – VI. It was noted intraoperatively that right inferior laryngeal nerve was a NRLN and right common carotid artery originated directly from the aorta and right brachiocephalic artery was absent. The nerve was preserved and patient underwent an uneventful surgery. She was well in her follow-up visits, her voice was good and both of her vocal cords were mobile on indirect laryngoscopy examination.

Although NRLN is a rare anatomic variation, surgeons should always think twice about this finding whenever right recurrent laryngeal nerve cannot be found according to anatomical landmarks intra-operatively.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the malignancy of squamous cells (the epidermal layer of skin) in cavities in head and neck includes: larynx, pharynx, paranasal sinuses and oral cavity. The main goal of this research was to understand the effect of mutations in two important genes (KRAS and BRAF) in RAS/MAP kinase (EGFR) signaling pathway in tumor cells with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in Iran.
The present cross-sectional study performed from October 2015 to September 2016 on 40 patients suffering from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, all confirmed by pathology department of Imam Khomeini hospital. Tumor samples were achieved from the surgical cancer department of Imam Khomeini hospital and stored in liquid nitrogen until starting tests. The tests done in genetic laboratory of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Techniques we used in this research, were DNA extraction based on phenol-chloroform approach, Multiplex PCR (M-PCR) to amplify mentioned exons and KRAS/BRAF strip assays to detect mutations in mutated hotspots in exon 2 of KRAS and codon V600E in BRAF gene.
In this study, we observed 7 mutations in codons 12 and 13 exon 2 in KRAS gene (about 17.5%) and 4 mutations in codon V600E in BRAF gene (about 10%) of obtained tumor samples. The hotspot mutation in codon 12 were Asp (10%) and Ser (5%) respectively. In BRAF, the most common mutation, as we expected according to other researches, was observed in codon V600E. We also observed that 29 people of these patients were male (about 72.5%) and 11 patients were female (about 27.5%). Moreover, 28 patients were over 50 years, while 7 patients were below the age of 50.
The results of this study showed that mutations in genes KRAS and BRAF especially in studied hotspots, and the effects on their molecules in EGFR signaling pathway are important in involving head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, as other cancers. These findings may be considered in choosing drugs for targeted chemotherapy.

To assess the rate of cervical lymph node involvement in patients with supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with no lymph node in clinical assessments and radiological studies.
Fifty-six patients who underwent elective dissection of the cervical lymph node of the second through fourth level were enrolled, and pathologic evaluation of the dissected lymph nodes was performed. Lymph node involvement and association between tumor grade, smoking and gender with lymph node involvement were assessed.
The rate of the occult neck metastasis in this series was 37.5%. There was no statistically significant association between lymph node involvement and tumor grade, smoking, or gender.
Based on the results of our study, we recommend elective bilateral neck dissection in all stages of N0 supraglottic SCC patients.

To evaluate the effect of adding neoadjuvant chemotherapy to surgery and radiation therapy for locally advanced resectable oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, 24 patients with T3 or T4a oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma were randomly assigned to surgery alone or Docetaxel, Cisplatin, and 5-FU (TPF) induction chemotherapy followed by surgery. All patients were planned to receive chemoradiotherapy after surgery. The primary end-points were organ preservation and progression-free-survival. SPSS version 17 was used for data analysis. Median follow-up was 16 months. The median age of the patients was 62 years old (23-75 years). Man/woman ratio was 1.13. The primary site of the tumor was the tongue in most patients (48%). No significant difference was observed between pathologic characteristics of the two groups. Chemotherapy group showed 16% complete pathologic response to TPF. No significant difference in organ preservation surgery or overall survival was detected. However, the patients in the chemotherapy group had longer progression-free-survival (P=0.014). Surgery followed by chemoradiotherapy with or without TPF induction results in similar survival time. However, progression-free-survival improves with the TPF induction chemotherapy. Studies with more patents and new strategies are recommended to evaluate organ preservation improvement and long-term outcomes.

Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a variant of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in which the stomach contents go up into the pharynx and then down into the larynx. LPR causes a wide spectrum of manifestations mainly related to the upper and the lower respiratory system such as laryngitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cough, hoarseness, postnasal drip disease, sinusitis, otitis media, recurrent pneumonia, laryngeal cancer and etc. The object of this study was to examine the effect of N-acetyl Cysteine (NAC) with and without Omeprazole on laryngitis and LPR. Ninety patients with laryngitis or its symptoms were referred and randomly assigned into three groups. The first group was treated by Omeprazole and NAC. The second group was treated by Omeprazole and placebo and the last group was treated by NAC and placebo. Duration of treatment was 3 months and all patients were evaluated at the beginning of study, one month and three month after treatment of sign and symptoms, based on reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflex finding score (RFS). Based on the results of this study, despite therapeutic efficacy of all treatment protocols, the RSI before and after 3 months treatment had significant difference in (NAS+ Omeprazole) and (Omeprazole+ placebo) group (P<0.001 in the first group, P<0.001 in the second group and P=0.35 in the third group). Whereas RFS before and after 3 month treatment had significant difference in all groups. (P<0.001 in each group in comparison with itself) but this results had not significant difference after 1 month treatment. Our results showed that the combination therapy with Omeprazole and NAC treatment had the most effect on both subjective and objective questionnaire at least after 3 months treatment. Based on the results of the present study, it seems that the use objective tools are more accurate than subjective tools in evaluation of therapeutic effects in patients with GERD-related laryngitis.