Is transoral sphenopalatine ganglion blockade more effective on postoperative pain than endoscopic sphenopalatine ganglion blockade?

PURPOSE: In this study, we aimed to examine and compare the effects of endoscopic SPGB and transoral SPGB on postoperative pain control and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing septoplasty. METHODS: Participants were randomly divided into three groups, no blockade (n:20), endoscopic SPGB (n:20), and transoral SPGB (n:20). Those who had no blockage were included in the control group. Demographic data of patients, such as age and sex, VAS (visual analogue scale) and postoperative pain scores (PPS) [determined at arrival in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) and after 2, 6, 12, and 24 h], general analgesic use (24 and 168 h after surgery) and postoperative Quality of Recovery (QoR-15) values were recorded and compare them. RESULTS: The PPS PACU of 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 24-h values of the transoral group were lower than the endoscopic and control groups (p < 0.001).The values of 24 h and 168 h of analgesic use in the transoral group were lower than in the control and endoscopic groups (p < 0.001).The average recovery QoR-15 scores at 12 h and 24 h differed according to the groups (p < 0.001) and the highest values were in the transoral group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Transoral SPGB is more effective in postoperative pain control than endoscopic SPGB, it decreases the use of postoperative analgesics and improves postoperative recovery scores.

The impact of tamoxifen treatment on voice parameters in premenopausal women with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to investigate the estrogen-agonistic effects of tamoxifen on voice parameters in premenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer. METHODS: A total of 108 premenopausal women were included, segmented into distinct treatment groups and a control group. Objective sound analysis was conducted using robust statistical methods, employing SPSS 25.0 for data analysis. RESULTS: The study identified a statistically significant reduction in Jitter values across all treatment groups compared to the control group. No significant changes were observed in other voice quality parameters such as F0, Shimmer, NHR, and HNR. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that tamoxifen may have an estrogen-agonistic effect on voice quality, thereby potentially influencing future treatment protocols. This research fills a critical void in existing literature and sets the stage for more comprehensive studies that consider affects of hormonal therapies to voice.

Comparative Evaluation of COVID-19 Associated Mucormycosis (CAM) and Non-COVID-19-associated Mucormycosis (non-CAM).

OBJECTIVE: To compare COVID-19 associated mucormycosis cases (CAM) with non-COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (non-CAM) cases followed as in-patients. STUDY DESIGN: Observational Study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University (HSU), Adana, Turkey, between January 2018 and March 2022. METHODOLOGY: Patients with a diagnosis of mucormycosis (proven and probable) were dichotomised as COVID-19 associated mucormycosis and non-COVID-19 associated mucormycosis cases. Both groups were compared for underlying malignancy, chemotherapy, antifungal therapy related side effects and overall survival. RESULTS: Of the 35 cases enrolled in the study, 17 (48.6%) had CAM and 18 (51.4%) had non-CAM. A statistically significant difference was detected between non-CAM and CAM cases in terms of haematological malignancy, receiving chemotherapy, and antifungal therapy-related side effects (p=0.019, p=0.019, and p=0.027 respectively). Steroid use was found as a risk factor for the diabetic CAM cases (p<0.0001). The difference between the CAM and non-CAM cases in terms of overall survival was not statistically significant (p=0.088). CONCLUSION: Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing number of critical patients, treatment of COVID-19 should be performed cautiously in patients who have the risk of developing CAM, particularly those with diabetes and immunosuppression (haematologic malignancy, receiving steroid or chemotherapy, etc.) and these patients should be monitored closely. KEY WORDS: Mucormycosis, COVID-19, Mucormycosis associated with COVID-19, Diabetes mellitus, Turkey.

The rare combination of low-grade thyroid-like nasopharyngeal papillary adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma: a case report and literature review.

Thyroid-like low-grade nasopharyngeal papillary adenocarcinoma (TL-LGNPA) is an extremely rare neoplasm that generally originates from the nasopharynx surface epithelium. The case presented herein is of a 70-year-old male patient referred from another centre, who was observed to have this tumour together with squamous cell carcinoma. The clinicopathological findings of this combination are presented, which has very rarely been mentioned in the literature. Although the prognosis of TL-LGNPA is generally excellent, it may sometimes be combined with other tumours, and therefore it must be kept in mind that it could have a clinically more aggressive course.

Loss of Smell in COVID-19 Patients: New Biomarkers.

Patients with emerging anosmia may be asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus disease 2019 infection requiring self-isolation; otherwise, there are risks of facilitating the spread of the disease.This study aims to evaluate the loss of smell with visual analogue scale and to determine the relationship between the loss of smell and blood parameters.All patients' coronavirus disease 2019 swab cultures were polymerase chain reaction positive and pneumonia was found in computed tomographies consistent with oronavirus disease 2019. The study was conducted on 114 patients hospitalized between 01.11.2020 and 31.12.2020 in the Otorhinolaryngology coronavirus disease 2019 Service of University of Health Sciences Adana City Training and Research Hospital and followed up by us.A score of 10 indicates that the olfactory function is completely normal in all patients undergoing visual analogue scale, and a score of 0 indicates that they cannot smell anything. Patients who received visual analogue scale scored 10 points were categorized as Group 1 and others as Group 2. Statistical significance level was determined as p < 0.05. A statistically significant difference was found between Group 1 and Group 2 in terms of visual analogue scale smell score, neutrophil, lymphocyte, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio. Visual analogue scale smell score, neutrophil count, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio value were found to be lower in Group 2 and lymphocyte count was found to be higher. Neutrophil, lymphocyte, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet, platelet/lymphocyte ratio, which are also used in nasal diseases, may be used to detect loss of smell, predict, and even determine the prognosis of loss of smell if supported by further studies.

Effect of Using N95 and Surgical Masks on Otoacoustic Emission in Cochlear Outer Hair Cells.

INTRODUCTION: Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) was measured to investigate the effect of mask use and type on oxygen saturation on cochlear function in health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Group 1 participants wore surgical masks; Group 2 participants wore N95 masks. Distortion product otoacoustic emission and oxygen saturation were measured in both groups before and after mask use. RESULTS: Comparison of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values before and after surgical mask use in DPOAE measurements of group 1 revealed statistically significant difference in the right and left ears. Comparison of the SNR values in DPOAE measurements of group 2 before and after 8 hours of N95 mask use revealed statistically significant differences in the right ear at 988, 2963, 4444, and 8000 Hz and in the left ear at 8000 Hz. CONCLUSION: We found that prolonged mask use may affect the outer hair cells in the cochlea, causing deterioration in DPOAE values.

The effectiveness of endoscopic sphenopalatine ganglion block in management of postoperative pain after septal surgery.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the effect of bilateral endoscopic sphenopalatine ganglion block (SPGB) for management of postoperative pain in patients undergoing septoplasty. METHODS: Sixty septoplasty patients (51.7% male, 48.3% female, aged 18 to 45 years) were randomly assigned to general anesthesia (GA) alone (control) (n = 30) or GA plus endoscopic SPGB (n = 30). Demographic data, duration of surgery, blood loss, postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores (upon arrival at the postanesthesia care unit [PACU] and 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours after surgery), overall analgesic usage (end of 24 and 168 hours after surgery), overall satisfaction with the pain control (end of 24 and 168 hours after surgery), and complications (bleeding, nausea and vomiting, and visual disturbance) were recorded. RESULTS: Pain scores upon arrival to the PACU and 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours after surgery were significantly lower in the SPGB group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Moreover, the SPGB group had significantly lower analgesic requirements and higher satisfaction scores with their pain control at the end of 24 and 168 hours after surgery compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The 2 groups significantly differed in terms of intraoperative blood loss (p = 0.024), and surgery time was longer in the SPGB group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: SPGB with bupivacaine is a safe and effective method to reduce pain after septoplasty, and it is a cost-effective alternative to high doses of analgesics.

Baseline hemoglobin <11.0 g/dL has stronger prognostic value than anemia status in nasopharynx cancers treated with chemoradiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: To retrospectively investigate the influence of pretreatment anemia and hemoglobin levels on the survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (C-CRT). METHODS: A total of 149 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients who received C-CRT were included. All patients had received 70 Gy to the primary tumor plus the involved lymph nodes, and 59.4 Gy and 54 Gy to the intermediate- and low-risk neck regions concurrent with 1-3 cycles of cisplatin. Patients were dichotomized into non-anemic and anemic (hemoglobin <12 g/dL (women) or <13 g/dL (men)) groups according to their pre-treatment hemoglobin measures. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized for accessibility of a pre-treatment hemoglobin cut-off that impacts outcomes. Potential interactions between baseline anemia status and hemoglobin measures and overall survival, locoregional progression-free survival (LRPFS), and progression-free survival were assessed. RESULTS: Anemia was evident in 36 patients (24.1%), which was related to significantly shorter overall survival (P=0.007), LRPFS (P<0.021), and progression-free survival (P=0.003) times; all three endpoints retained significance in multivariate analyses (P<0.05, for each). A baseline hemoglobin value of 11.0 g/dL exhibited significant association with outcomes in ROC curve analysis: hemoglobin <11.0 g/dL (N=26) was linked with shorter median overall survival (P<0.001), LRPFS (P=0.004), and progression-free survival (P<0.001) times, which also retained significance for all three endpoints in multivariate analyses and suggested a stronger prognostic worth for the hemoglobin <11.0 g/dL cut-off value than the anemia status. CONCLUSION: Pre-C-CRT hemoglobin <11.0 g/dL has a stronger prognostic worth than the anemia status with regard to LRPFS, progression-free survival, and overall survival for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Can the number of eosinophils in adenoid and tonsil tissue determine the allergy in children?

OBJECTIVE: Previous reports have indicated the association of allergy with Waldeyer's ring. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the correlation between the allergy and the number of eosinophils in the adenoid and tonsil tissue. METHODS: 101 children who were underwent adenoidectomy and/or tonsillectomy were prospectively enrolled in this study. 46 children who had positive skin-prick test for at least one of the allergen panel were sensitized and 55 children were nonsensitized as a result of skin-prick test. Hematoxylin-eosin stained sections were examined under 400× magnification in a blinded fashion in 10 random sections for all samples and compared the groups. RESULTS: The number of eosinophils in adenoid and tonsil tissue was significantly higher in sensitized patients. The number of eosinophils in the adenoid and tonsil samples also were interrelated too (p < 0.001, kappa coefficient: 0.617). As a result of ROC analysis, patients with a cut-off of ≥5 eosinophils was in the sensitized group for adenoid samples [Sensitivity value: 72.09 and specifity value: 91.84]. Patients with a cut-off of ≥3 eosinophils are in the sensitized group for tonsil samples [Sensitivity value: 52.94 and specifity value: 92.11]. CONCLUSION: Presence of sensitization can be distinguished by looking at the number of eosinophils in the adenoid and tonsil tissue. It can be used to determine whether the patient is allergic or not. Examination of the routine hematoxylin-eosin stained adenotonsillary specimen for eosinophilia will guide us the diagnosis and treatment of allergic rhinitis and also reduce the cost considerably.

Congenital muscular torticollis in older children: treatment with Z-plasty technique.

Congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is a common congenital disorder of the musculoskeletal system in neonates and infants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of inferior Z-plasty in older children with CMT. They had mean age of 10 years (range, 5-14 years) and were followed up for 1 to 6 years. Postoperative protocol included a neck exercise program composed of active and passive movements in all cases and immobilization with a cervical collar in only 4 patients. This study concluded that surgical management of older children with CMT using Z-lengthening gives excellent clinical and functional results. The procedure is much more effective than other techniques and relatively complication-free and safe. Postoperative cervical collar and a well-planed physiotherapy protocol go a long way toward ensuring good to excellent results. Early diagnosis and treatment are necessary for good results.