Lymphatic Vascular Density, the Expression of Podoplanin and Tumor Budding in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Notwithstanding recent advances in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) management, its mortality rate is still high. It is imperative to investigate new parameters that are complementary to clinical staging for OSCC to provide better prognostic insight. The presence of isolated neoplastic cells or small clusters of up to four cells at the tumor's invasive front, called tumor budding, is a morphological marker of OSCC with prognostic value. Increased lymphatic vascular density (LVD) and a high expression of podoplanin in neoplastic cells have also been associated with worse prognosis in OSCC. To investigate these markers in OSCC, we evaluated differences in LVD and the expression of podoplanin in neoplastic cells between tumors with high-intensity tumor budding versus low-intensity or no tumor budding. In the samples of high-intensity budding, differences in those parameters between the​​ budding area and the area outside the budding were also evaluated. Furthermore, the study assessed differences in LVD and in the expression of podoplanin in neoplastic cells concerning OSCC clinicopathological characteristics. METHODS: To those ends, we subjected 150 samples of OSCC to immunohistochemistry to evaluate the intensity of tumor budding (via multi-cytokeratin immunostaining). Moreover, the 150 samples of OSCC and 15 specimens of normal oral mucosa (used as a control) were employed to assess LVD and the expression of podoplanin (in neoplastic cells of OSCC and in the lining epithelium of normal oral mucosa), both via podoplanin immunostaining. Data were processed into descriptive and analytical statistics. RESULTS: No differences were observed neither in the LVD nor in the expression of podoplanin in neoplastic cells concerning sex, age, tobacco smoking, tumor location and tumor size. The LVD was greater in OSCC and in tumors with high-intensity budding than in normal mucosa but did not differ between normal mucosa and tumors with low-intensity or no tumor budding. The data analyses also revealed that LVD was greater in tumors with high-intensity tumor budding than in tumors with low-intensity or no budding and showed no difference in LVD between the budding area and the area outside the budding. When compared to the lining epithelium of the normal mucosa, the expression of podoplanin was greater in neoplastic cells of OSCC, tumors with high-intensity budding and tumors with low-intensity or no tumor budding. The expression of podoplanin in neoplastic cells was also greater in tumors with high-intensity budding and, within those tumors, greater in the budding area than in the area outside de budding. CONCLUSION: Those findings support the hypothesis that tumor budding is a biological phenomenon associated with the progression and biological behavior of OSCC.

Foreign Body Granuloma in the Tongue by a Pequi Spine.

Substances considered foreign to the human organism can penetrate it due to local trauma, initially causing an acute inflammatory response against these substances, involving a neutrophilic infiltrate that, when it fails to deal with these foreign bodies, ends up generating a granulomatous inflammatory response. Granuloma formation has been associated with a variety of conditions. The correct clinical and imaging diagnoses are extremely important for the dentist to choose an appropriate therapeutic approach, aiming at the best possible treatment. This work is aimed at describing a case report of a foreign body granuloma, formed on the tongue, from the penetration of a pequi spine, in a 76-year-old patient, in whom, after an imaging diagnosis with ultrasound, surgical removal of the lesion was performed, and the piece was sent for histopathological examination, which confirmed the initial diagnostic hypothesis of a foreign body granuloma. The initial diagnosis of foreign body granulomas is challenging. For this reason, more sophisticated means of diagnosis such as tomography and magnetic resonance become important in the diagnosis, as they can show with greater clarity and reliability the nature of the lesion and its relationship with adjacent anatomical structures. In the case in question, an ultrasound examination was chosen, which was extremely important as an aid to diagnosis, considerably improving surgical planning. In addition, after surgical removal, the result of the histopathological analysis is essential to determine the definitive diagnosis, as it determines the granulomatous characteristic of the lesion.

Conservative Treatment of a Periapical Cementoblastoma: A Case Report.

Cementoblastoma is a rare benign odontogenic neoplasm of ectomesenchymal origin, accounting for fewer than 6% of all odontogenic tumors. Although the tumor characteristics are well known, the standard practice to treat this lesion is surgical excision and extraction of the affected tooth, with few reported cases using a tooth-conservative treatment approach. This report presents the case of a 33-year-old woman with cementoblastoma who underwent conservative treatment to preserve her tooth in the oral cavity. Endodontic treatment of the tooth was performed; 30 days later, the lesion was removed with the apical third of the root of the tooth. After 7 years of follow-up, no recurrence was observed, and the tooth retains its masticatory function. In certain cases of cementoblastoma, the affected tooth can be kept in the oral cavity instead of being extracted, thereby preserving the oral health of patients.

Primary Occipital Encephalocele in an Elderly Patient.

The encephalocele is a condition characterized by the protrusion of the intracranial contents through a bone defect of the skull. The authors report a clinical case of an 80-year-old woman with primary occipital encephalocele on the right side and that was affected by trauma and presented liquor fistula and infection. Tomographic sections were obtained by injection intravenous of contrast. The images showed bone thickness thinning on the right occipital region and solution of continuity (encephalocele) with regular contours, reduction in brain volume, and hypodensity of the periventricular white substance were observed. The patient was successfully operated.