Positive Effects of Local Botulinum Toxin Injection and Colchicine for Complicated Chronic Recurrent Parotitis: A Case Report.

Chronic recurrent parotitis (CRP) is a rare affliction of unknown cause characterized by recurrent episodes of unilateral or bilateral nonobstructive and nonsuppurative inflammation of the parotid glands. Management of CRP is not standardized, and attempts at treatment often fail. We report a case of a 29-year-old female patient with CRP for 13 years, with recurrent acute episodes, complicated with a collection and cutaneous fistula, refractory to repeated courses of corticosteroids and antibiotics. Injections of botulinum toxin in the parotid gland and maintenance treatment with oral colchicine lead to a rapid and sustained improvement. Local botulinum toxin injections associated with colchicine might represent a safe and noninvasive treatment of CRP. The possible beneficial effect of colchicine could be an argument for auto-inflammatory participation in the pathogenesis of CRP.

Proposal for standardized ultrasound analysis of the salivary glands: Part 1 submandibular gland.

Objectives: The Salivary Gland Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery seeks to standardize terminology and technique for ultrasonograpy used in the evaluation and treatment of salivary gland disorders. Methods: Development of expert opinion obtained through interaction with international practitioners representing multiple specialties. This committee work includes a comprehensive literature review with presentation of case examples to propose a standardized protocol for the language used in ultrasound salivary gland assessment. Results: A multiple segment proposal is initiated with this focus on the submandibular gland. We provide a concise rationale for recommended descriptive language highlighted by a more extensive supplement that includes an extensive literature review with additional case examples. Conclusion: Recommendations are provided to improve consistency both in performing and reporting submandibular gland ultrasound.

Polylactic acid implants (New-Fill) to correct facial lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients: results of the open-label study VEGA.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of currently available therapy to manage facial lipoatrophy, strategies used to compensate for facial fat loss warrant clinical evaluation. METHODS: The goal of this open-label, single-arm, pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of facial injections of poly-L-lactic acid (PLA) (New-Fill) in HIV-infected patients with severe facial lipoatrophy. Patients received four sets of injection at day 0 and then every 2 weeks for 6 weeks. Patients were evaluated by clinical examination, facial ultrasonography, and photography at screening and at weeks 6, 24, 48, 72, and 96. RESULTS: Fifty patients were enrolled. At entry, the median facial fat thickness was equal to zero (range, 0.0-2.1 mm). The median total cutaneous thickness (TCT) increased significantly from baseline : +5.1 mm (range, 2.2-8.6 mm) at week 6, +6.4 mm (range, 3.1-9.1 mm) at week 24, +7.2 mm (range, 4.2-9.6 mm) at week 48, +7.2 mm (range, 3.5-9.6 mm) at week 72 and +6.8 mm (range, 3.9-10.1 mm) at week 96 (P < 0.001). The proportion of patients with TCT > 10 mm was observed in 19% at week 6, 41% at week 24, 61% at week 48, 52% at week 72 and 43% at week 96. In 22 (44%) patients, palpable but non-visible subcutaneous micronodules were observed with a spontaneous resolution in six patients at week 96. CONCLUSION: The benefit of PLA for the correction of the facial lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients was clearly demonstrated, with an evident aesthetic and quality of life improvement. The efficacy, safety profile, and the simplicity of the injection schedule of PLA make this filling material a potentially attractive treatment.

Salivary stones: innovative techniques in diagnosis and treatment.

During the last decade, minimally invasive and nonsurgical techniques of diagnosing and treating salivary gland duct stones have rapidly evolved. Physicians have developed alternative treatments beyond the sole use of invasive conventional surgery. Techniques and equipment have been specifically developed to deal with ductal lithiasis. Salivary duct endoscopy, endoscopic instrumentation, and intra- or extracorporeal lithotripsy have proven themselves to be efficacious in most cases involving ductal stones. Current algorithms for treatment combine conventional surgical, minimally invasive, and nonsurgical strategies to produce the least invasive and best-tolerated outcomes for each individual patient.

Vobi One: a data processing software package for functional optical imaging.

Optical imaging is the only technique that allows to record the activity of a neuronal population at the mesoscopic scale. A large region of the cortex (10-20 mm diameter) is directly imaged with a CCD camera while the animal performs a behavioral task, producing spatio-temporal data with an unprecedented combination of spatial and temporal resolutions (respectively, tens of micrometers and milliseconds). However, researchers who have developed and used this technique have relied on heterogeneous software and methods to analyze their data. In this paper, we introduce Vobi One, a software package entirely dedicated to the processing of functional optical imaging data. It has been designed to facilitate the processing of data and the comparison of different analysis methods. Moreover, it should help bring good analysis practices to the community because it relies on a database and a standard format for data handling and it provides tools that allow producing reproducible research. Vobi One is an extension of the BrainVISA software platform, entirely written with the Python programming language, open source and freely available for download at https://trac.int.univ-amu.fr/vobi_one.

Clinical ultrasound of the salivary glands.

Ultrasound investigation of the major salivary glands has been routinely used for the past 25 years. Ultrasound provides an immediate diagnosis in acute or chronic inflammatory salivary diseases and can visualize sialolithiasis as small as 0.4 mm. Ultrasound is also an important imaging modality for salivary gland tumors, guiding fine needle aspiration (FNA) for cytological diagnosis. It is particularly sensitive in detecting suspicious lymph nodes in the neck and helps to guide FNA. Ultrasound is a first-line tool for diagnosis of salivary pathology. It is simple to use, noninvasive, and well tolerated, even in children.

Treatment of juvenile recurrent parotitis.

Juvenile recurrent parotitis (JRP) can be a debilitating illness in children. Knowing how to recognize and diagnose it for early treatment avoids recurrences that could lead to significant destruction of the glandular parenchyma. This article discusses the various therapeutic modalities proposed in the literature (medical treatment or sialendoscopy) and describes the authors' treatment of choice of combining antibiotics and iodinated oil sialography.

Outcome of minimally invasive management of salivary calculi in 4,691 patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the application of minimally invasive techniques in the management of salivary stones. BACKGROUND: The incidence of salivary calculi is 60 cases/million/year, with most stones situated in the mid or proximal duct. The current treatment of these stones is adenectomy. This paper reports the results of minimally invasive methods of stone removal that avoid gland excision. METHODS: Observational study of 5,528 consecutive patients treated by lithotripsy, endoscopy, basket retrieval, and /or surgery in five centers from 1990 to 2004 inclusive. A total of 567 cases were excluded, leaving 4,691 patients (parotid n = 1,165, submandibular n = 3,526) for analysis. RESULTS: Salivary calculi were eliminated in 3,775/4,691 (80.5%) of cases and partly cleared in 782/4,691 (16.7%). Salivary glands were removed in 134/4,691 (2.9%) of patients with symptoms in whom treatment failed. CONCLUSIONS: Minimally invasive techniques move treatment of salivary calculi to an outpatient or a day case setting. They are reliable ways of both retrieving stones and eliminating symptoms, and mean that the gland rarely has to be removed.

Facial lipoatrophy and the place of ultrasound.

BACKGROUND: Interest in facial lipoatrophy (LA) has recently intensified; this phenomenon is linked to the rise in the number of people adversely affected by the condition as a side effect of antiretroviral treatment for HIV, combined with the growing number of cosmetic products that claim to be able to correct the appearance of LA. Despite growing awareness of the problem, there is at present no standard and accepted technique with which to assess the severity of LA. OBJECTIVE: This review explores facial LA, the use of ultrasound in the evaluation of facial LA, its advantages and disadvantages, and will place the technique in the context of other means of assessing regional skin and fat thickness. METHOD: Review of literature published on PubMed. RESULTS Ultrasound, as with any technique used to assess facial LA, is associated with distinct advantages and disadvantages. CONCLUSIONS: Studies that use a number of different techniques to evaluate changes in dermal thickness provide the greatest insight into both perceived and actual changes in facial LA. Further investigation into the use of these techniques is warranted, along with a formal consensus of facial LA grades.

Full scope of effect of facial lipoatrophy: a framework of disease understanding.

BACKGROUND: Facial lipoatrophy has been observed to occur in a variety of patient populations, with inherited or acquired disease, or even in aging patients as a natural progression of tissue change over time. There is currently no framework from which physicians of all medical specialties can communally discuss the manifestations, diagnoses, and management of facial lipoatrophy. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this assembly was to derive a definition of facial lipoatrophy capable of being applied to all patient populations and develop an accompanying grading system. RESULTS: The final consensus of the Facial Lipoatrophy Panel encompasses both aging and disease states: "Loss of facial fat due to aging, trauma or disease, manifested by flattening or indentation of normally convex contours." The proposed grading scale includes five gradations (Grades 1-5; 5 being the most severe), and the face is assessed according to three criteria: contour, bony prominence, and visibility of musculature. CONCLUSION: Categorizing the presentation of facial lipoatrophy is subjective and qualitative, and will need to be validated with objective measures. Furthermore, during the assembly, several topics were exposed that warrant further research, including the physiology of volume loss, age and lipoatrophy, and human immunodeficiency virus and lipoatrophy.