[Clinical and epidemiological data of patients with malignomas of the head and neck]. / Klinische und epidemiologische Daten zu Malignomen des Kopf-Hals-Bereichs.

BACKGROUND: The present study describes clinical and epidemiological data of patients with malignomas of the head and neck documented in the Munich Cancer Register. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data of head and neck cancer patients treated at four departments of head and neck surgery and one of oral-maxillo-facial surgery in the area of Munich from 1978 up to now are reported. RESULTS: Incidence and mortality as a function of age, sex, and tumor localization are described in comparison to clinical and epidemiological data as specified in tumor registers of the Saarland and the USA. Moreover, TNM stages, survival, recurrence, and metastasis rates are presented. CONCLUSION: Based on the documentation of the Munich Cancer Register our study is the first to present a detailed description of clinical and epidemiological data of patients suffering from head and neck malignomas.

[A gouty tophus in the temporomandibular joint and on the eustachian tube]. / Ein Gichttophus im Kiefergelenk und auf der Tuba Eustachii.

A 76-year old female patient was suffering from a right-sided conduction-type hearing loss due to a very painful tumour in the anterior parotid region. X-ray films showed a partial destruction of the right temporomandibular joint. Since the patient had undergone a left-sided mastectomy for breast carcinoma two years previously, an operation was performed under the suspicion of a metastatic lesion. A plum-sized gouty tophus was found adjacent to the temporomandibular joint. The head of the mandible was partly destroyed, the upper pole of the parotid gland displaced and atrophic. The dorsal and medial aspect of the tophus impinged on the cartilaginous portion of the Eustachian tube. In the postoperative course, the conduction-type deafness disappeared, the pain was relieved, and the mobility of the joint almost completely restored. To our knowledge this represents the second case of a gouty tophus in the temporomandibular joint, the first one where the size of the lesion resulted in impingement of the Eustachian tube and conduction-type deafness. It is noteworthy that the patient showed no other signs or symptoms of primary gouty arthritis.