Schwannoma of the submandibular gland: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Schwannoma is a benign, solitary, and slowly progressive encapsulated tumor originating from the sheath of myelinated nerve fibers. Schwannoma of the salivary gland is a particularly rare form of an extracranial neurogenic tumor. Here, we present an unusual case of a schwannoma of the submandibular gland in a 19-year-old man. Total excision of the submandibular gland resulted in complete resolution of symptoms with no cranial nerve deficits. The details of the histopathologic and immunohistochemical features are presented. CASE PRESENTATION: A 19-year-old Caucasian man was admitted to our clinic with a painless mass on the right side of his neck that he had had for the past four months. A neck examination revealed a smooth-surfaced, mobile, firm, and painless mass, 6cm in its greatest diameter, on the right side of the submandibular region. Fine-needle aspiration cytology was suggestive of a submandibular gland schwannoma. After the initial evaluation, our patient was prepared for surgical evaluation and resection with a presumptive diagnosis of a neurogenic tumor of the submandibular gland. The final diagnosis of schwannoma was verified by microscopic and immunohistochemical studies. At one-year follow-up of the case, there was no evidence of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Schwannoma of the salivary gland is a particularly rare form of an extracranial neurogenic tumor. Our findings indicate good prognosis in an unusual case of a submandibular gland schwannoma in a 19-year-old man treated by surgical excision with no recurrence within 12 months of follow-up.

Giant mucocele originating from the middle concha in a 5-year-old child: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Mucoceles are mucus-filled, epithelial-lined sacs that slowly develop in the paranasal sinuses when sinus or concha bullosa drainage is obstructed by inflammatory processes, trauma, or prior surgery. They are extremely rare in children. Symptoms usually arise from the nasal obstruction or compression of neighboring structures. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes a 5-year-old Turkish boy with a 3-year history of nasal obstruction. A computed tomography scan showed a well-defined soft tissue density lesion, seemingly originating in the region of the middle concha and was suggestive of a middle concha mucocele. The mass was removed by endoscopic sinus surgery. CONCLUSIONS: In the case of a child presenting with nasal obstruction, mucocele should be remembered in the differential diagnosis of intranasal tumors. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are helpful in making the diagnosis and endoscopic nasal surgery has proven successful in the treatment.

Acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma of the maxilla: unusual location and aggressive behavior of a rare histologic variant.

Acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) of the mucosal membranes has been documented sporadically. The highly aggressive behavior of a mucosal ASCC arising in the oral cavity has been recently reported. To the best of our knowledge, only 1 autopsy case of maxillary ASCC previously has been reported in the literature. We present what we believe is only the second case of maxillary ASCC. Our goal is to emphasize the aggressive behavior of this tumor in order to add weight to the argument that the prognosis is poor.

Unilateral inferior turbinate bone hypertrophy: is it compensatory or congenital?

BACKGROUND: This study evaluates the degree of the unilateral hypertrophied inferior turbinate (HIT) by computed tomography (CT) and determines and compares the enlargement of the turbinate bone and soft tissue in different parts of the HIT in pediatric and adult groups. METHODS: Both pediatric and adult patients were studied in two groups: those with a straight or nearly straight septum (n = 25 and 124, respectively) and those with deviation (n = 64 and 129, respectively). The cross-sectional area (CSA) of the IT bone and soft tissue were measured at anterior, middle, and posterior thirds of the IT in coronal CT sections. The ratio of CSA of the IT bone and soft tissue on two sides of the septum (interturbinate ratio [IR]) were calculated. IRs were then compared among straight septum and deviation groups for both the pediatric and the adult groups. RESULTS: IR of the bony concha CSA for the deviation group was significantly higher compared with the straight septum group in anterior, middle, and posterior segments in adults (p = 0.028, 0.018, and <0.001, respectively; independent samples t-test). The soft tissue component hypertrophy was prominent only in the middle segment (p = 0.15); however, there was no significant difference for pediatric patients. Also, there was a statistically significant difference between the adult group with septum deviation and the pediatric group with septum deviation for both soft tissue and bone components (p < 0.001 for all segments; independent samples t-test). CONCLUSION: We claim that these results indicate that skeletal and soft tissue IT hypertrophy seem to be compensatory and evolves with age rather than being congenital. Therefore, skeletal enlargement is prominent in anterior, middle, and posterior thirds of HIT in patients with septal deviation in adults but not in the pediatric group.

Postnasal drip due to inferior turbinate perforation after radiofrequency turbinate surgery: A case report.

Management of inferior turbinate hypertrophy includes surgical options in case of failure with medical treatment and the main goal of turbinate surgery is to relieve the patient's symptoms of chronic nasal congestion while preserving mucosal surfaces with reduction of the submucosal and bony tissue. In this regard, radiofrequency volumetric tissue reduction has been a thermal technique associated with satisfactory results and fewer side effects. Historical detail on onset, timing, duration, and severity of symptoms and aggravating and relieving factors are important in the differential diagnosis of postnasal drip (PND). Here, we report development of intractable PND due to inferior turbinate perforation after radiofrequency turbinate surgery for the first time in the literature and the successful improvement via removal of pathological anatomic structure under nasal endoscopy-directed surgery in a 35-year-old female patient. The patient had a good functional outcome postoperatively with no further complications or signs of recurrence occurring, to date, within a postoperative follow-up period of 1 year.

Unusual presentation of sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma originating from the nasal septum: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Burkitt's lymphoma is a highly aggressive, small, non-cleaved B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the sporadic form of the disease that occurs in non-endemic areas around the world, most commonly in developed countries, patients usually present with an abdominal mass that frequently involves the ileocecal region of the bowel; ocular or orbital involvement is rare. Primary disease of the sinuses is uncommon and, to the best of our knowledge, that of the anterior septum has never been described. We report the diagnosis and successful management of Burkitt's lymphoma originating from the nasal septum in a male patient. CASE PRESENTATION: An otherwise healthy 78-year-old Caucasian man who did not smoke cigarettes was admitted to our Ear, Nose and Throat outpatient clinic with the complaint of nasal obstruction due to left-sided nasal septal thickening. Paranasal computerized tomography revealed a well-circumscribed solid mass originating from his anterior nasal septum and obstructing his airway. The final diagnosis of Burkitt's lymphoma was verified by immunohistochemical studies. Our patient had a good clinical outcome after chemoradiotherapy, with no problems reported to date in the second year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: We provide what we believe to be the first report of a case of sporadic Burkitt's lymphoma involving the nasal septum, and describe the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy. Being an original case report with broader clinical impact across more than one area of medicine, this case presentation has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of Burkitt's lymphoma and we emphasize the need to include this disease in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with a nasal septal mass.

Vocal fold bridge: a complication of a sulcus cyst surgery.

Vocal fold bridges are rare pathologies and mostly coincidentally discovered in direct laryngoscopy. Although the pathophysiology of formation is not well established, it is attributed as a primary pathology that accompanies sulcus and related vocal fold disorders. This paper presents a vocal fold bridge formation in a professional singer after surgical removal of a sulcus cyst formed as a sequela with typical histologic findings resembling the primary bridges. This case report addresses a very rare unpublished complication of a phonomicrosurgical procedure and implicates the evidence of trauma in the etiology.

Use of nasal bivalve septal teflon splint for the treatment of recurrent epistaxis in patients undergoing anticoagulant therapy.

Management of recurrent epistaxis in patients on anticoagulant therapy is a challenging problem. In this article, we report our experience concerning the use of bivalve septal teflon splint (BSTS) for the treatment of recurrent mild epistaxis in a group of patients who underwent anticoagulant therapy after cardiac valve surgery. The study included 18 patients whose epistaxes recurred despite standard methods such as local pressure, vasoconstrictors, sedation, packing or cauterization. BSTS was sutured on the both sides of the nasal septum and held in place during one month. Epistaxis was controlled in all of the patients. We believe that the use of BSTS is an effective, easily applied, non-traumatic, well-tolerated additional method for the treatment of recurrent mild epistaxis in patients undergoing anticoagulant therapy, when other conventional treatments fail. Further controlled studies with larger groups are warranted in order to further evaluate this method.