Blood transfusion and survival after laryngectomy for laryngeal carcinoma

Survival of patients with surgically treated malignancy may be adversely affected by blood transfusion. Immune suppression due to transfusion has been implicated but remains unproven. We conducted a study of 240 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx undergoing laryngectomy to assess the effect of per-operative blood transfusion on survival.     

Value of grading squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

We report a series of 3,294 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck seen by one of us between 1963 and 1990. Two thousand and seven patients had a histologically proven and graded, but previously untreated, squamous cell carcinoma of the mucosal surfaces of the head and neck. These tumors had been graded previously by many different pathologists in many different hospitals, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as continental Europe, over this period. Of the host factors both sex and age were associated with differentiation: 34% of patients less than age 50 had a well-differentiated tumor compared with 44% greater than age 50; 32% of women had a poorly differentiated tumor compared with 26% of men. General condition had no correlation with degree of differentiation. Site was closely associated with grading: well-differentiated tumors were more common in the mouth and larynx and poorly differentiated tumors in the pharynx. Furthermore, of poorly differentiated tumors, 19% arose from areas normally lined by keratinized squamous epithelium, 22% from a nonkeratinized area, 36% from respiratory epithelium, and 45% from areas normally covered by lymphoid epithelium. T stage had no significant correlation with differentiation. However, 46% of patients with poorly differentiated tumors had a nodal metastasis at presentation compared with only 28% of well-differentiated tumors. Distant metastases at presentation were found in 3.4% of poorly differentiated tumors compared with 1.8% of well-differentiated tumors. The survival fell significantly from 33% for well-differentiated tumors to 27% for poorly differentiated tumors. The recurrence rate at the primary site rose from 25% for well-differentiated tumors to 27% for poorly differentiated tumors, and recurrence in the lymph nodes rose from 26% to 30%. Both differences were just significant.     

A novel 37-Kd adhesive membrane protein from cloned murine bone marrow stromal cells and cloned murine hematopoietic progenitor cells

The adhesion of hematopoietic progenitor cells to bone marrow stromal cells is critical to hematopoiesis and involves multiple effector molecules. Stromal cell molecules that participate in this interaction were sought by analyzing the detergent-soluble membrane proteins of GBI/6 stromal cells that could be adsorbed by intact FDCP-1 progenitor cells. A single-chain protein from GBI/6 cells having an apparent molecular weight of 37 Kd was selectively adsorbed by FDCP-1 cells. This protein, designated p37, could be surface-radiolabeled and thus appeared to be exposed on the cell membrane. An apparently identical 37- Kd protein was expressed by three stromal cell lines, by Swiss 3T3 fibroblastic cells, and by FDCP-1 and FDCP-2 progenitor cells. p37 was selectively adsorbed from membrane lysates by a variety of murine hematopoietic cells, including erythrocytes, but not by human erythrocytes. Binding of p37 to cells was calcium-dependent, and was not affected by inhibitors of the hematopoietic homing receptor or the cell-binding or heparin-binding functions of fibronectin. It is proposed that p37 may be a novel adhesive molecule expressed on the surface of a variety of hematopoietic cells that could participate in both homotypic and heterotypic interactions of stromal and progenitor cells.     

Reversible reorganisation of the motor cortical representation of the hand in cervical dystonia.

Previous work has suggested that there may be a widespread disturbance of motor control mechanisms in patients with cervical dystonia. In the present study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate the topography of the corticomotor projection to the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle in 10 subjects with idiopathic torticollis. Threshold-adjusted stimuli were delivered at multiple scalp sites during a low-level voluntary contraction of the APB, and maps were generated of motor evoked potential amplitude versus scalp site. The cortical maps for the APB on the side opposite to the direction of head rotation were displaced laterally or posteriorly in all subjects and reverted to a more normal position after botulinum toxin injection of the cervical muscles in 5 subjects. The findings point to a reversible reorganisation of the corticomotor representation of the hand on the same side as the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle that is involved in producing the dystonia. These results provide further evidence for the involvement of cortical centres and for a more widespread abnormality of motor control mechanisms in focal dystonia. The findings also support the notion that head turning is chiefly mediated by the hemisphere ipsilateral to the direction of the head rotation by means of a corticomotor projection to the contralateral SCM.     

Meningiomas presenting with paranasal sinus involvement

Extracranial paranasal spread of meningiomas is uncommon. We describe the management of four cases, all of which first presented to an oto-rhino-laryngologist for an opinion. We suggest that greater use of modern imaging techniques could lead to earlier diagnosis. The natural history of extracranial spread is relatively benign but the management of regrowth of residual disease is difficult. We therefore suggest radical surgery in the first instance provided that the patients general health and configuration of the tumour allow.