Increased incidence of otitis externa in covid-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: The current study showed the relation between otitis externa and COVID-19 infection and compared otitis externa with other symptoms of COVID-19 as anosmia. METHODS: 257 cases who were confirmed positive for COVID-19, were examined otoscopic and endoscopic for otitis externa, onset of starting symptoms of otitis externa and its relation to days of infection with COVID-19 were documented and the prevalence of otitis externa with anosmia in the study group were estimated. RESULTS: Increased incidence of otitis externa in COVID-19 patients (18% of study group) and symptoms starting mainly between the 5th to 8th day of COVID-19 infection. Combined otitis externa and anosmia occurred in 13% of study group. CONCLUSIONS: Otitis externa has a relation to COVID-19 infection. Further research needed to study its pathogenesis and mechanisms.

Evaluation of the Potential Prognostic Value of Tumor Budding in Laryngeal Carcinoma by Conventional and Immunohistochemical Staining.

BACKGROUND: Tumor budding is a promising prognostic indicator in several cancers especially in colorectal cancer. However, only few studies have been conducted to assess and validate its prognostic value in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma; none of which used pancytokeratin immunohistochemistry. In view of the modest results of treatment of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, the need of new prognostic indicators becomes of paramount importance. Aim of the Study. We aim to evaluate tumor budding in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, by haematoxylin and eosin, as well as by pancytokeratin immunohistochemistry. Material and Methods. A retrospective study on 118 cases of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma from archives of Pathology Lab of Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital and Ain Shams University Hospitals from January 2014 to January 2017. The ENT and histopathology reports were reviewed to determine clinicopathologic data of the patients. RESULTS: Tumor budding shows high statistically significant relations (p = 0.0001 for each) with important clinicopathological parameters of laryngeal carcinoma (site, grade, tumor stage, lymph node stage, lymph node extracapsular invasion, and vascular invasion). The extent of tumor budding correlated with overall survival, local recurrence disease free, and distant metastasis disease free (p = 0.001 for each). Multivariate analysis showed tumor budding to be an independent prognostic factor affecting progression-free survival. There was a moderate agreement between H&E and IHC by pancytokeratin as regards detection of budding among study cases (kappa = 0.593). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor budding was correlated with poor prognostic clinicopathologic indicators in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. It is recommended to use pancytokeratin immunohistochemistry to evaluate tumor budding in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma especially in confusing cases.