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Αλέξανδρος Γ. Σφακιανάκης

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Observations and Considerations for Implementing Remote Acoustic Voice Recording and Analysis in Clinical Practice

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Remote voice recording and acoustic analysis allow for comprehensive voice assessment and outcome tracking without the requirements of travel to the clinic, in-person visit, or expensive equipment. This paper delineates the process and considerations for implementing remote voice recording and acoustic analysis in a high-volume university voice clinic.
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Non-invasive Fungal Sinusitis as a Complication of a Steroid-Eluting Stent Following Endoscopic Sinus Surgery: A Case Report

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Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2021 Aug 5:34894211036844. doi: 10.1177/00034894211036844. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Steroid eluting stents have proven to be a highly useful adjunctive therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and play an important role in the treatment of many inflammatory diseases of the sinuses. Few reports of adverse events were reported in clinical trials and are described in the literature. However, we describe the first known case of an immun ocompetent patient developing non-invasive fungal tissue infection as a sequelae of stent-related tissue necrosis requiring surgical debridement.

METHODS: A 69-year-old immunocompetent male with CRS had Propel™ stents placed in the bilateral frontal sinus outflow tracts during revision endoscopic sinus surgery. He presented 2 weeks post-operatively with severe facial pain without vision changes, fevers, mental status changes, or evidence of cranial neuropathies. On rigid nasal endoscopy, necrotic tissue and gross fungal elements were visualized in the left frontal sinus outflow tract at the area of previous steroid stent position.

RESULTS: The patient was taken for urgent endoscopic sinus surgery and debridement given significant symptoms and concern for invasive fungal infection. A revision left maxillectomy, ethmoidectomy, and draf 2b frontal sinus drillout were performed, with healthy bleeding tissue encountered beneath necrotic tissue. Pathology revealed tissue nec rosis, exudative lumenal debris, and extensive fungal elements with no evidence of tissue invasion, and cultures yielded growth of aspergillus niger. The patient's symptoms improved significantly on post-operative day 1, he had normal post-operative changes at 2 weeks following debridement, and had no recurrence of fungal infection with complete healing at 4 months.

CONCLUSION: While likely rare, steroid-eluting stents may pose a risk of saprophytic tissue infection as a result of tissue necrosis and local immunosuppression. Caution should be taken in using these devices in immunocompromised patients.

PMID:34350789 | DOI:10.1177/00034894211036844

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Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the 22-item sinonasal outcome test (SNOT-22) in German-speaking patients: a prospective, multicenter cohort study

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Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Aug 5. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-07019-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common condition associated with a significant reduction of the health-related quality of life. One of the most widely used assessment tools in CRS is the disease-specific, health-related questionnaire SNOT-22. The aim of this study was to translate and validate the SNOT-22 into the German language.

METHODS: The questionnaire was translated using the forward-backward translation technique. After the translation its reliability, validity, and sensitivity were evaluated. For this purpose, the questionnaire was completed by patients diagnosed with CRS before, 3 months and 1 year after endoscopic sinus surgery and by healthy individuals as controls at three university hospitals in Germany. The individual scores of the questionnaire before surgery was correlated with the Lund-Mackay score a s well as a global disease-specific question.

RESULTS: A total of 139 CRS patients and 31 healthy individuals participated in the study. Internal consistency at all timepoints was very good, with Cronbach's alpha scores of 0.897, 0.941, and 0.945. The questionnaire was able to discriminate between CRS patients and control subjects (p < 0.0001) and scores improved significantly 3 month and 1 year after sinus surgery (p < 0.0001), indicating a good test-retest reliability, validity, and responsiveness. A significant correlation to the single global disease-specific question could be found (p < 0.0001), but no correlation with the Lund-Mackay score.

CONCLUSION: The German Version of the SNOT-22 is a reliable, valid, and sensitive instrument for measuring health-related quality of life in patients with CRS. It can be recommended for clinical practice and outcome research for German-speaking patients.

PMID:34351466 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-021-07019-6

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Carcinosarcomas of the larynx: systematic review of the literature of a rare nosologic entity

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Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Aug 5. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-07027-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Carcinosarcoma, also known as Spindle Cell Carcinoma (SpCC), is a rare type of malignant tumor. Generally, this type of pathology occurs in the urogenital tract, the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract and mammary gland; in the larynx, SpCC represents only 2-3% of all malignancies. Due to its rarity, there is currently no generally acceptable treatment guideline for this disease. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature of SpCC of larynx and report epidemiologic, clinicopathologic and main therapeutic approaches for this entity.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and Scopus databases. For this review, the results were extrapolated in the period between January 1990 to September 2020. Data extraction was performed using a standard registry d atabase. The clinical and pathological staging were recalculated according to the Eight Edition of AJCC Cancer Staging Manual and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Version 25.0.

RESULTS: A total of 111 patients affected by laryngeal carcinosarcoma were included. From our review arises that surgery is the main treatment for primary laryngeal carcinosarcoma. In this way, various techniques such as minimally invasive laryngoscopy excision, laser CO2 cordectomy, partial laryngectomy (vertical and horizontal) and total laryngectomy. The role of radiotherapy is still controversial. The overall survival (OS) for T1 stage tumor at 5 years of follow-up is 82.9%, the OS for T2 and T3 tumor is 74% and 73.4%. The OS at 5 years of follow-up is 91.7% for supraglottic tumor, 69.3% for glottic tumor and 50% for transglottic site. Subglottic site is described in only 2 cases [12-13], so the OS at 5 years is not statistically significant. The 5-year overall survival in patients wit hout lymph nodes involvement (N0) is 90.2%, 66.7% and 50%, respectively, for N1 and N2 lesions.

CONCLUSION: Primary laryngeal carcinosarcoma is a very rare malignancy. There are no clear guidelines in the management but in the literature, surgery is described as the best modality of therapy; radiation only can be a reasonable alternative with controversial efficacy. The most important prognostic factor is the nodal metastasis.

PMID:34351467 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-021-07027-6

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Pancreatic metastasis from papillary thyroid carcinoma: Case report and literature review

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Hell J Nucl Med. 2021 Aug 6:s002449912354. doi: 10.1967/s002449912354. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid malignancy. Papillary thyroid carcinoma generally spreads locally to the cervical lymph nodes, but distant metastases are seen in 5%-7% of cases. Most distant metastases occur in the bone, lung, and brain. Pancreatic metastases of PTC are extremely rare. Herein we present a patient with PTC treated with total thy roidectomy and two rounds of radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation that was subsequently found to have a pancreaticmetastasis detected on fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18 F-FDG PET/CT) imaging 3 years from the initial diagnosis.

PMID:34352049 | DOI:10.1967/s002449912354

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Effects of Thyroid Function on Hemostasis, Coagulation, and Fibrinolysis: A Mendelian Randomization Study

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Abstract
Background: Untreated hypothyroidism is associated with acquired von Willebrand syndrome, and hyperthyroidism is associated with increased thrombosis risk. However, the causal effects of thyroid function on hemostasis, coagulation, and fibrinolysis are unknown.

Methods: In a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study with genome-wide association variants, we assessed causality of genetically predicted hypothyroidism (N = 134,641), normal-range thyrotropin (TSH; N = 54,288) and free thyroxine (fT4) (N = 49,269), hyperthyroidism (N = 51,823), and thyroid peroxidase antibody positivity (N = 25,821) on coagulation (activated partial thromboplastin time, von Willebrand factor [VWF], factor VIII [FVIII], prothrombin time, factor VII, fibrinogen) and fibrinolysis (D-dimer, tissue plasminogen activator [TPA], plasminogen activator inhibitor-1) from the CHARGE Hemostasis Consortium (N = 2583–120,246). Inverse-variance-weighted random effects were the main MR analysis followed by sensitivity analyses. Two-sided p < 0.05 was nominally significant, and p < 0.0011[ = 0.05/(5 exposures × 9 outcomes)] was Bonferroni significant for the main MR analysis.

Results: Genetically increased TSH was associated with decreased VWF [β(SE) = −0.020(0.006), p = 0.001] and with decreased fibrinogen [β(SE) = −0.008(0.002), p = 0.001]. Genetically increased fT4 was associated with increased VWF [β(SE) = 0.028(0.011), p = 0.012]. Genetically predicted hyperthyroidism was associated with increased VWF [β(SE) = 0.012(0.004), p = 0.006] and increased FVIII [β(SE) = 0.013(0.005), p = 0.007]. Genetically predicted hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism were associated with decreased TPA [β(SE) = −0.009(0.024), p = 0.024] and increased TPA [β(SE) = 0.022(0.008), p = 0.008], respectively. MR sensitivity analyses showed similar direction but lower precision. Other coagulation and fibrinolytic factors were inconclusive.

Conclusions: In the largest genetic studies currently available, genetically increased TSH and fT4 may be associated with decreased and increased synthesis of VWF, respectively. Since Bonferroni correction may be too conservative given the correlation between the analyzed traits, we cannot reject nominal associations of thyroid traits with coagulation or fibrinolytic factors.

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Thyroid, Ahead of Print.
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Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Effect of electrode array type and insertion technique on the insertion force: in vitro cochlear model study

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Zhonghua Er Bi Yan Hou Tou Jing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2021 Jul 7;56(7):691-697. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.cn115330-20200831-00712.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of insertion technique and electrode array type on the insertion force of electrode array, and to provide a basis for further optimizing electrode design and facilitating mini-invasive electrode insertion. Methods: Three types of electrode array from Nurotron (Standard Electrode, Slim-medium Electrode, Slim-long Electrode) were studied. from July 2019 to December 2019. These electrode arrays were inserted into the phantom models of the cochlea, manually or robot-assisted(medium speed and low speed). The real-time force during electrode array insertion was recorded by ATI Nano 17 Ti sensors and was analyzed by accessory software. Origin 2020b software was used for statistical processing. Results: The insertion force of all electrode arrays progressively in creased with the insertion depth. With the manual technique, the peak force of slim-medium electrode insertion was significantly smaller than that of the standard electrode insertion((71.0±16.6) mN vs (140.9±52.7) mN, Z=3.683, P<0.01), and the peak force of the slim-long electrode insertion was between the peak force of standard electrode and slim-medium electrode(P>0.05). No difference was found in the force variation of insertion among the three electrodes(P>0.05). With medium-speed and low-speed robotic assistance, the peak force characteristics of three electrodes were similar to those with the manual technique, but the force variation of standard electrode insertion ((83.9±9.7) mN/s) at medium speed was significantly larger than that of the slim-long electrode insertion ((69.2±4.0)mN/s), and the force variation of the standard electrode insertion at low speed was significantly greater than the other two electrodes. For the same electrode , robot-assisted insertion presented significantly lower peak force and force variation than manual insertion for each type of electrode array. But there was no difference in the peak force and force variation between two-speed levels of robot assistance (P>0.05). Conclusions: The insertion force of the electrode array will be lower when a slim electrode array or robot technique is applied. Long electrode array might make manual insertion difficult or less precise. Robot assistance has advantage on force control during electrode array insertion.

PMID:34344094 | DOI:10.3760/cma.j.cn115330-2 0200831-00712

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