Impact of Surgeon's Experience and Tumor's Nature in the Use of Intraoperative Facial Nerve Monitoring in Superficial Parotidectomy. Preliminary Results from a Single-Center Retrospective Analysis.

To assess the effectiveness of intraoperative facial nerve monitoring (IFNM) compared to non-monitoring in the prevention of post-operative facial nerve palsy during superficial parotidectomy. Patients treated with curative intent for parotid gland tumors between January 2020 and January 2022 were included. The study population has been divided in 2 groups, based on IFNM: the group A included patients operated with IFNM, whilst group B was the non-monitoring group.

The Spectrum of Neurological and Sensory Abnormalities in Gaucher Disease Patients: A Multidisciplinary Study (SENOPRO).

Gaucher disease (GD) has been increasingly recognized as a continuum of phenotypes with variable neurological and sensory involvement. No study has yet specifically explored the spectrum of neuropsychiatric and sensory abnormalities in GD patients through a multidisciplinary approach. Abnormalities involving the nervous system, including sensory abnormalities, cognitive disturbances, and psychiatric comorbidities, have been identified in GD1 and GD3 patients.

Vitamin D Deficit as Inducer of Adenotonsillar Hypertrophy in Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea-A Prospective Case-Control Study.

(1) Objective: This prospective case-control study aimed to assess the level of serum vitamin D comparing pediatric non-allergic patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and healthy controls. (2) Methods: The period of the enrollment was from November 2021 to February 2022. Children with uncomplicated OSA caused by adenotonsillar hypertrophy (ATH) were recruited.

Parapharyngeal space tumors: a twenty-year single-center retrospective analysis on the effectiveness of transcervical and transoral approaches on local control and disease-specific survival.

Introduction: To retrospectively analyzed our twenty-years single-center experience in the treatment of PPS tumors, focusing on the selection of surgical approach and the survival outcome.

Methods: Tumors involving the PPS between January 2000 and February 2022 were retrospectively included. The surgical approach was dictated by the localization of the tumor, its dimensions, the relation to anatomic structures and its etiology.

Acinic cell carcinoma of the parotid gland: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes? A multicenter retrospective analysis focusing on survival outcome.

Objectives: To analyze the demographic data, surgical and adjuvant treatment data and the survival outcomes in adult patients affected by acinic cell carcinoma of the parotid gland (AciCC).

Methods: A retrospective multicenter analysis of patients treated for AciCC of the parotid gland from 2000 to 2021 was performed. Exclusion criteria were pediatric (0-18 years) patients, the absence of follow-up and patients with secondary metastatic disease to the parotid gland.

A surgical challenge: resection of giant follicular thyroid carcinoma in a 92-year-old woman. Case report and considerations on thyroid surgery in geriatric population.

The aim of this paper is to present the clinical features and the diagnostic and surgical management of a 92-year-old patient with giant goiter. She was admitted to our Emergency Department for evaluation of a cervical mass increased in volume over the past five years. She complained of mild dyspnea pressure symptoms in the neck.

Cochlear implant in immune mediated inner ear diseases: Impedance variations and clinical outcomes.

Objective: Immune-mediated inner ear disease (IMIED) might cause severe/profound hearing loss and these patients are considered ideal candidates to cochlear implant (CI) surgery. The aim of the study was to evaluate impedance changes over time.

Method: The Study Group (SG) was composed of CI IMIED patients (31 ears) and a Control Group (CG) of CI patients with hearing loss not related to their immune system (31 ears).

Vestibular Organ and Cochlear Implantation-A Synchrotron and Micro-CT Study.

Reports vary on the incidence of vestibular dysfunction and dizziness in patients following cochlear implantation (CI). Disequilibrium may be caused by surgery at the cochlear base, leading to functional disturbances of the vestibular receptors and endolymphatic duct system (EDS) which are located nearby. Here, we analyzed the three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of this region, aiming to optimize surgical approaches to limit damage to the vestibular organ.

Bimodal cochlear implantation in elderly patients.

Objective: Bimodal stimulation is a standard option for asymmetric hearing loss in adults. Questions have been raised whether receiving two stimulations may conflict in elderly listeners where the central integration of an acoustic/electrical signal may be very important to obtain benefit in terms of speech perception.

Design: Clinical retrospective study.

Human inner ear blood supply revisited: the Uppsala collection of temporal bone-an international resource of education and collaboration.

Background: The Uppsala collection of human temporal bones and molds is a unique resource for education and international research collaboration. Micro-computerized tomography (micro-CT) and synchrotron imaging are used to investigate the complex anatomy of the inner ear. Impaired microcirculation is etiologically linked to various inner ear disorders, and recent developments in inner ear surgery promote examination of the vascular system.

Electrochemotherapy in head and neck cancer: A review of an emerging cancer treatment.

Patients affected by aggressive neoplasms with a high propensity to metastasize to the skin, including some types of head and neck cancer, may benefit from electrochemotherapy, a modality that combines the electroporation of cell membranes and chemotherapy to facilitate the transport of non-permeant molecules into cells; the host immune response consequently participates in achieving the abolition of tumors. Electrochemotherapy can be successfully used for skin metastases of head and neck tumors and, with some limitations, for primary and relapsing neoplasms; it can also be applied on an outpatient basis with a favorable cost-benefit ratio and it is a repeatable treatment that, if necessary, can be followed by traditional antineoplastic therapies. Although still a palliative treatment, the good level of tolerability and the high success rates of electrochemotherapy make it worth consideration among treatment options in selected patients.

The Human Cochlear Aqueduct and Accessory Canals: a Micro-CT Analysis Using a 3D Reconstruction Paradigm.

Objective: We sought to study the anatomic variations of the cochlear aqueduct and its accessory canals in human temporal bones using micro-CT and a 3D reconstruction paradigm. More knowledge about the anatomic variations of these structures, particularly at the basal turn of the cochlea and round window niche, may be important to better preserve residual hearing as well as the neural supply during cochlear implant surgery.

Methods: An archival collection of 30 human temporal bones underwent micro-CT and 3D reconstruction.

Hearing loss in autoimmune disorders: Prevalence and therapeutic options.

The objective of this study was to review our current knowledge relative to the correlation between sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and autoimmune diseases, focusing on the prevalence of hearing loss in different pathologies and possible therapeutic approaches. A review of the literature on hearing loss in different forms of autoimmune disease has been carried out, with emphasis on incidence and prevalence of SNHL. Therapeutic protocols have been assessed including both conservative medical and rehabilitative methods.

A new semi-implantable middle ear implant for sensorineural hearing loss: three-years follow-up in a pilot patient's group.

Objective: The aim of this article is to report on the long-term follow-up of a new semi-implantable middle ear device utilized for restoration of moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss in a first series of subjects.

Methods: Three subjects, affected by sensorineural hearing loss, have undergone implantation of Maxum middle ear implant, via a transcanal approach. They all underwent an auditory assessment, paying particular attention on the pre- versus post-operative hearing levels under the unaided, best-fitted hearing aided and implant-aided conditions.

Proposal of a Video-recording System for the Assessment of Bell's Palsy: Methodology and Preliminary Results.

Hypothesis: To propose a new objective video-recording procedure to assess and monitor over time the severity of facial nerve palsy.

Background: No objective methods for facial palsy (FP) assessment are universally accepted.

Methods: The face of subjects presenting with different degrees of facial nerve deficit, as measured by the House-Brackmann (HB) grading system, was videotaped after positioning, at specific points, 10 gray circular markers made of a retroreflective material.

Delayed Effect of Active Pressure Treatment on Endolymphatic Hydrops.

Objective: To identify eventual correlations between the effect of low-pressure treatment and endolymphatic hydrops in Ménière patients.

Material And Methods: The study group consisted of subjects affected by definite Ménière disease (2015) and a severe degree of disability, who received a ventilation tube with or without a low-pressure treatment before undergoing a surgical procedure (vestibular neurectomy). After the placement of the ventilation tube, the subjects were either left alone with the tube or received 1 month of self-administered low-pressure therapy with a portable device.

Can unilateral, progressive or sudden hearing loss be immune-mediated in origin?

Objective: The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that the positivity of nonspecific immunological tests could be found not only in bilateral hearing loss but also in unilateral cases, either sudden or progressive.

Method: An observational case series study included subjects suffering from unilateral or bilateral, sudden or progressive, symmetric or asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). All the patients underwent pure tone audiometry and the following battery of blood exams: anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) antibody screening, anti-thyroperoxidase (anti-TPO), anti-thyroglobulin and anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA).

Kabat rehabilitation for Bell's palsy in the elderly.

Conclusions: This study has confirmed the importance of combining the physical rehabilitation to the steroid treatment for a better outcome from BP in all age groups, especially in the old HB grade V.

Objectives: To investigate the role played by aging in the recovery rate from peripheral facial nerve palsy.

Method: In the present study, subjects affected by peripheral facial nerve palsy, distributed by age, were randomly assigned to medical treatment, either alone or associated with Kabat physical rehabilitation.

Patient satisfaction after auditory implant surgery: ten-year experience from a single implanting unit center.

Conclusions: The satisfaction rate of the subjects with an auditory implant appears strictly related to the resulting auditory improvement, and the surgical variables would play a prevailing role in respect to the esthetic factors.

Objectives: To assess the rate of satisfaction in subjects who underwent the surgical application of an auditory device at a single Implanting Center Unit.

Method: A series of validated questionnaires has been administered to subjects who underwent the surgical application of different auditory devices.

Bone conductive implants in single-sided deafness.

Conclusion: Bone conduction implants (BCIs) have been shown to partially restore some of the functions lost when binaural hearing is missing, such as in subjects with single-sided deafness (SSD). The use of a single BCI needs to be recommended by a clinician based on thorough counselling with the SSD subject.

Objectives: To perform an overview of the present capabilities of BCIs for SSD and to evaluate the reliability of the audiological evaluation for assessing speech recognition in noise and sound localization cues, which are major problems related to the loss of binaural hearing.

Macromolecular organization and fine structure of the human basilar membrane - RELEVANCE for cochlear implantation.

Introduction: Cochlear micromechanics and frequency tuning depend on the macromolecular organization of the basilar membrane (BM), which is still unclear in man. Novel techniques in cochlear implantation (CI) motivate further analyses of the BM.

Materials And Methods: Normal cochleae from patients undergoing removal of life-threatening petro-clival meningioma and an autopsy specimen from a normal human were used.

3-D gel culture and time-lapse video microscopy of the human vestibular nerve.

Conclusions: Human inner ear neurons have an innate regenerative capacity and can be cultured in vitro in a 3-D gel. The culture technique is valuable for experimental investigations of human inner ear neuron signaling and regeneration.

Objectives: To establish a new in vitro model to study human inner ear nerve signaling and regeneration.

On the anatomy of the 'hook' region of the human cochlea and how it relates to cochlear implantation.

Background: The optimal insertion route for an electrode array in hearing preservation cochlear implantation (CI) surgery is still tentative. Both cochleostomy (CO) and round window (RW) techniques are used today. In the present study we analyzed size variations and topographic anatomy of the 'hook' region of the human cochlea to better comprehend the Testo effects of various electric array insertion modes.

Is the human round window really round? An anatomic study with surgical implications.

Hypothesis: Human round window (RW) presents anatomic variations that may influence surgical approach.

Background: The true shape of the human RW has been divisive since its first description in 1772 by Antonio Scarpa. Introduction of novel surgical strategies in recent years have raised its significance.