Treating the N0 neck in early stage oral cancer: a pause for re-assessment?

The incidence of metastases following neck dissection in the apparent lymph node negative neck in oral cancer is between 7% and 33%; early resection of cervical metastases may well increase survival. Modern imaging techniques can reduce the yield of previously undiagnosed metastatic nodes in elective neck dissection (END). An audit of 112 consecutive cases was conducted to determine the proportion of undiagnosed nodal metastases, after END. There were neck metastases in 10 cases (9%), which were mainly (but not all) micrometastic. The 20% likelihood of nodal metastases was only apparent in primary tumours greater than 6 mm thick. The length of inpatient stay was increased from 3.7 to 16.5 days with free vascularised transfer. There were complications including cranial nerve damage. There were two peri-operative deaths. No ipsilateral neck failures occurred, median follow up was 937 days. To reduce unnecessary END, resection can be undertaken as a prior procedure, subsequently only carrying out END on tumours greater than 6 mm, or with unfavourable tumour characteristics.

Association between the ossific nucleus and osteonecrosis in treating developmental dysplasia of the Hip: updated meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: A meta-analysis concluded that there was no effect of the femoral head ossification and the incidence of osteonecrosis in the treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), unless only osteonecrosis grades II-IV were considered. The meta-analysis, limited due to the small number of studies available at that time, identified a need for an update as further research emerges. We observed a trend in recent years towards delaying treatment of DDH in the absence of an ossified nucleus. Numerous new publications on this topic encouraged us to update the 2009 meta-analysis. METHODS: We performed a systematic review of the literature from 1967 to 2016 and included studies that reported on the treatment of DDH, the ossific nucleus and osteonecrosis. Two independent reviewers evaluated all articles. We performed a meta-analysis with the main outcome defined as the development of osteonecrosis of the femoral head at least two years after closed or open reduction. RESULTS: Of four prospective and ten retrospective studies included in the systematic review, 11 studies (1,021 hips) met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. There was no significant effect of the ossific nucleus on the development of all grades of osteonecrosis (relative risk, 0.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.56-1.41) or osteonecrosis grades II-IV (0.67; 0.41-1.08). In closed reductions, the ossific nucleus halved the risk for developing osteonecrosis grades II-IV (0.50; 0.26-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: Based on current evidence there does not appear to be a protective effect of the ossific nucleus on the development of osteonecrosis. In contrast to the previous meta-analysis, this update demonstrates that this remains the case irrespective of the grade of osteonecrosis considered relevant. This updated meta-analysis is based on twice as many studies with a higher quality of evidence.

Is there an ideal outcome scoring system for facial reanimation surgery? A review of current methods and suggestions for future publications.

Facial reanimation is the surgical process of attempting to restore dynamic, spontaneous symmetry to the paralysed face. We undertook to review the most frequently used scoring systems and discuss a universal set of assessments which every facial palsy surgeon can use to standardize the outcome of surgical intervention and allow a comparison to be drawn when comparing different operative techniques. A literature review was performed using PubMed and Cochrane databases to identify scoring systems for facial palsy, facial nerve regeneration and facial reanimation. The scoring systems were broken down into the following broad categories: observational, mathematical and computer-graphical measurements. More than 20 scoring systems were identified and included in the study. The scoring systems were analysed and assessed for reproducibility and inter-observer reliability. The current trend in the literature is to use the House-Brackmann Score due to its historical longevity, brevity and ease of understanding. However, this was never designed to assess outcomes of facial reanimation and there are clear limitations. Other more appropriate methods such as 3-D facial analysis are prohibitively expensive to widely implement. The quest continues to develop an ideal system. From this review it is clear that a quick, simple to use system should be used which incorporates the patient's own views. Therefore a combination of pre- and post-operative photographs of the patient should be assessed by an independent panel as well as the patient. We propose a universal set of photographs that can be used to standardize the outcome of surgical intervention when publishing results in the literature. This will allow a comparison to be drawn when comparing different operative techniques and help surgeons work collectively towards the same goal while improving patient outcomes.