The application of three-dimensional printing in the management of a difficult airway due to Treacher Collins syndrome.

We describe the use of three-dimensional printing to create precise airway models for a patient with Treacher Collins syndrome who presented for bimaxillary temporomandibular joint prostheses, and for whom airway management was predicted to be difficult. The model was based on pre-operative cone beam computed tomography images and printed in the 3D Lab of Hospital Universitario La Paz. Transparent models allowed clear visualisation for simulation and iterative refinement of airway management techniques and aided in risk assessment and instrument sizing. This case report emphasises the utility of this approach in complex airway scenarios.

Navigation in surgical arthroscopy of the temporomandibular joint.

Surgical navigation is a technique that has evolved greatly in recent years. It allows surgeons to navigate through the surgical field in real time, and helps to locate anatomical structures or lesions and to place devices in complex anatomical regions with relatively high accuracy. In this article, we describe the application of surgical navigation in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthroscopy using an optical surgical navigator for a more precise diagnosis and to accurately place instruments in the desired position, especially in lateral pterygoid myotomy. We believe this technique will extend our understanding of the TMJ anatomy and will improve functional results in TMJ arthroscopy.

Prevalence and phenotype of primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia with autonomous cortisol secretion: a study of 98 patients.

AIM: This study evaluated prevalence of primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH). It also analyzed the differential phenotype of patients with PBMAH compared to other bilateral adrenal lesions that do not meet the definition of PBMAH. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 732 patients diagnosed with an adrenal incidentaloma at our center. Ninety-eight patients with subclinical hypercortisolism were included in the analysis. We defined PBMAH as the presence of plasma cortisol > 1.8 µg/dL after an over-night 1-mg dexamethasone test, bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, and bilateral adrenal nodules > 1 cm. RESULTS: A total of 31 patients had PBMAH. Patients with PBMAH showed greater prevalence of autonomous cortisol secretion (plasma cortisol > 5.0 µg/dL after an overnight 1-mg dexamethasone test) than patients without PBMAH (OR 4.1, 95%CI 1.38-12.09, p = 0.010). Tumor size and total adenomatous mass were significantly greater in patients with PBMAH compared to patients without PBMAH (30.2 ±â€¯12.16 vs. 24.3 ±â€¯8.47 mm, p = 0.010 and 53.9 ±â€¯20.8 vs. 43.3 ±â€¯14.62 mm, p = 0.023), respectively. A greater proportion of patients with PBMAH had diabetes compared to patients without PBMAH (45.2% vs. 25.4%, p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: PBMAH is present in one-third of patients with adrenal incidentaloma and subclinical hypercortisolism. Patients with PBMAH showed greater autonomous cortisol secretion, bigger tumor size, and higher rates of diabetes than those without PBMAH.

Clinical nutrition as part of the treatment pathway of pancreatic cancer patients: an expert consensus.

PURPOSE: Malnutrition is a common problem among pancreatic cancer (PC) patients that negatively impacts on their quality of life (QoL) and clinical outcomes. The main objective of this consensus is to address the role of Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) into the comprehensive therapeutic management of PC patients. METHODS: A Spanish multidisciplinary group of specialists from the areas of Medical Oncology; Radiation Oncology; Endocrinology and Nutrition; and General Surgery agreed to assess the role of MNT as part of the best therapeutic management of PC patients. RESULTS: The panel established different recommendations focused on nutritional screening and nutritional screening tools, MNT strategies according to PC status, and MNT in palliative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: There is an unmet need to integrate nutritional therapy as a crucial part of the multimodal care process in PC patients. Health authorities, health care professionals, cancer patients, and their families should be aware of the relevance of nutritional status and MNT on clinical outcomes and QoL of PC patients.

Medication related osteonecrosis of the jaws (MRONJ): Factors related to recurrence after treatment with surgery and platelet rich plasma (PRP) placement.

BACKGROUND: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaws (MRONJ) is a well-known complication associated with antiresorptive and antiangiogenic therapies. The purpose of this study was to analyse if there is any predictive factor of recurrence after local debridement plus platelet rich plasma (PRP) placement in MRONJ patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy MRONJ patients treated at the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in La Paz Hospital (Madrid, Spain) were included in this retrospective study. All of them were treated surgically by local debridement and PRP placement. The observation period was between January 2012 and January 2019. Information regarding use, type, administration, and duration of therapy with BP/denosumab was recorded. The follow-up period ranged from 2-52 months. A descriptive analysis, a bivariate and a multivariate study were performed. RESULTS: Most of the patients were women (82.9%) between 50-70 years old (64.3%), with a stage II disease (74.3%). The therapy lasted more than 12 months in 54.8% of them. Zoledronic acid was the main antiresorptive used (44.3%), followed by oral administered BPs (29 patients, 41.4%) and denosumab (10 patients, 14.3%). Osteoporosis (48.6%), breast cancer (30%) and multiple myeloma (11.4%) were the main diseases because the patients were taking antirresorptives. 13 patients (18.6%) experienced recurrence. We found that breast cancer patients (p>0.0001), smokers (p>0.016), and administration of zoledronic acid (p>0.0001) were related to recurrence. After performing the multivariate model, we found that the only factor related to recurrence was smoking habit (Wald 3.837, p=0.05, OR 6.12). CONCLUSIONS: recurrence after local debridement plus PRP placement in our MRONJ series affected to 18.6% of patients. It seems to be more frequent in breast cancer patients, smokers, and after zoledronic acid administration. Smoking habit was the only independent factor related to recurrence in our series.

Expression of clec9a in the oral cancer microenvironment. A preliminary immunohistochemical pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The search for treatments to improve cancer survival has led to the emergence of immunotherapy and the study of the tumour microenvironment existing in neoplasms. This preliminary study aims to understand the clinical and pathological relationship of clec9a expression in oral cancer and to explore survival models for future studies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical study that included 26 patients with a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in mobile tongue and floor of the mouth. Clinical and histopathological variables were recorded, and the biomarkers clec9a for dendritic cells and CD8 and CD4 for lymphocytes were used. RESULTS: Clec9a was expressed in 58% of the sample. It was more common in cases with low lymphoplasmacytic infiltration and in type 2 invasion patterns. It was significantly related to CD8 expression (p=0.055 and p=0.007). No prognostic risks were evident in the survival models studied (overall survival, disease-specific survival, disease-free survival). CONCLUSIONS: CLEC9A expression is present in the OSCC microenvironment and is mainly related to the presence of CD8 lymphocytes. The relationship of its expression with survival prognosis in OSCC could not be confirmed; however, this needs to be confirmed through future studies with larger sample size.

Preliminary study of the Craniofacial Pain and Disability Inventory-11: validation for patients with head and neck cancer.

BACKGROUND: Cancer involves numerous physical, psychological and emotional changes and has a negative impact on patients. Although there are a wide variety of questionnaires for general use in patients with cancer, very few are available that assess the pain, disability and craniomandibular functionality of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) in a more specific manner. The purpose of this study is to present the preliminary behavior of the CF-PDI in its reduced version adapted for patients with HNC. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 61 patients with HNC were included in a study to preliminarily analyze the internal consistency of the instrument, the convergent validity and the floor and ceiling effects. All the patients completed the informed consent document and a battery of 5 questionnaires: The Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia for Temporomandibular Disorders (TSK-TMD), the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the Quality of Life Questionnaire in patients with HNC (QLQ-HN) and the reduced version of the Craniofacial Pain and Disability Inventory (CF-PDI-11). Patients also performed 2 physical tests: measurements of the pain threshold on the masseter muscle and on the distal phalanx of the first finger; and the maximum mouth opening in neutral head position. RESULTS: Cronbach's α coefficient showed a very high internal consistency of 0.92. In terms of convergent validity, a statistically significant correlation was found between the CF-PDI-11 and the following variables: NRS, TSK-TMD, PCS, QLQ-HN, the threshold of pain in the distal phalanx of the first finger and the maximum interincisal opening. However, 21.3% of patients obtained the lowest possible score. The strongest correlation was found between the CF-PDI-11 and the QLQ-HN (r = 0.85, p <0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary version of the CF-PDI-11 shows that it could be a valid and reliable instrument to measure pain, disability and quality of life in patients with HNC.

Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies.

We perform a comprehensive study of Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxies to constrain the fundamental properties of dark matter (DM). This analysis fully incorporates inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution and detectability of MW satellites and marginalizes over uncertainties in the mapping between galaxies and DM halos, the properties of the MW system, and the disruption of subhalos by the MW disk. Our results are consistent with the cold, collisionless DM paradigm and yield the strongest cosmological constraints to date on particle models of warm, interacting, and fuzzy dark matter. At 95% confidence, we report limits on (i) the mass of thermal relic warm DM, m_{WDM}>6.5 keV (free-streaming length, λ_{fs}≲10h^{-1} kpc), (ii) the velocity-independent DM-proton scattering cross section, σ_{0}<8.8×10^{-29} cm^{2} for a 100 MeV DM particle mass [DM-proton coupling, c_{p}≲(0.3 GeV)^{-2}], and (iii) the mass of fuzzy DM, m_{ϕ}>2.9×10^{-21} eV (de Broglie wavelength, λ_{dB}≲0.5 kpc). These constraints are complementary to other observational and laboratory constraints on DM properties.

Oral mucositis. Is it present in the immunotherapy of the immune checkpoint pd1/pd-l1 against oral cancer? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Oral mucositis (OM) is a painful lesion that takes place in the mucosa of the oral cavity, usually its etiology is associated with drug therapies in cancer patients. It is presented as well-defined ulcers whose painful symptomatology sometimes implies the suspension of oncological treatment or parenteral feeding, being therefore an important adverse effect, marking the evolution of these types of therapies against cancer. The present work aim is to know the prevalence of oral mucositis in oral cancer immunotherapy compared to its prevalence in standard therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A protocol was developed for a systematic review following PRISMA® guidelines and a focused question (PICO) was constructed. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on electronic databases including PubMed, the SCOPUS database, the Cochrane library and the Web of Science (WOS). RESULTS: Six clinical trials were included that met the different inclusion criteria. In these articles, a discrepancy between the prevalence of OM in patients treated with chemotherapy and patients treated with immunotherapy related to the immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1 (Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of oral mucositis is lower in new immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies against oral cancer than drugs used so far (chemotherapy drugs [methotrexate, cisplatin] as well as cetuximab). However, more studies should be carried out to confirm these data.