Volume 10 Issue 3 (2020)

Objective: There are multiple techniques to obtain a reasonable augmentation and filling of the nasal dorsum and ensure a smooth and harmonic nasal dorsum in rhinoplasty. This article will discuss our results of applying fibrinogen and thrombin coated collagen patch named TachoSil® in various rhinoplasties, with or without using an additional bone or cartilage graft.

Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the preoperative and six months postoperative clinical data as well as the overall satisfaction of a total of 78 patients who were applied TachoSil® during their rhinoplasties between Jan 2016 and July 2019.

Results: Rhinoplasties were all performed with a closed approach. No postoperative bleeding and no allergic reactions to TachoSil® were reported. Two patients presented on the 10th postoperative day with nasal dorsum abscess. 83% of the patients were satisfied, whereas nasal retouching was performed in 17% of patients because of dissatisfaction.

Conclusion: In addition to its significant hemostatic role, TachoSil® is considered a safe, effective, and easy method to be applied for graft fixation in Augmentation rhinoplasties, to conceal the nasal dorsum irregularities, to fill and support soft tissue in patients with thin nasal skin.

Objective: To investigate the role of vitamin D on the etiology and the prognosis of Bell’s Palsy (BP).

Methods: A prospective controlled clinical study was conducted on patients diagnosed as BP and healthy volunteers as control group. Vitamin D levels were measured in all subjects. In a homogenous group, effects of vitamin D on the etiology and prognosis were evaluated according to House-Brackmann (HB) grades of participants.

Results: Vitamin D levels were similar in the BP and control groups. In BP group, patients with advanced HB grades had lower vitamin D levels. Moreover poorer outcomes (p=0.01) were achieved in patients who had <10ng/ml vi-tamin D, regardless the initial HB grade.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrated a possible role of vitamin D levels on the prognosis of BP. Lower vitamin D levels may have a negative effect on recovery particularly in patients with advanced grades

Objective: Stuttering is a communication disorder that can affect an individual’s life in many ways. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of stuttering on children and adolescents’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Methods: This is a cross-sectional type of case-control study. Thirty-six children and adolescents diagnosed with stuttering according to DSM-5 and 37 age- and gender-matched healthy children and adolescents were included in the study. The child and adolescent’s HRQoL in both groups was evaluated using the KIDSCREEN-52 self and proxy reports.

Results: No significant difference was observed in the physical well-being, psychological well-being, moods and emotions, self-perception, autonomy, parental relationships and home life, financial resources, social support and peers, school environment, social acceptance-bullying dimensions in the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire between-group comparison of both report and proxy results. The parental score reports were found to be statistically significantly lower than the children with stuttering in social acceptance-bullying dimension. In contrast, the children’s scores in the dimensions of physical well-being, self-perception, parental relationships and home life, social support and peers and school environment were found to be statistically significantly lower than their parents.

Conclusion: According to the study results, it was observed that the HRQoL of children between the ages of 8-18 who stutter was not different from healthy children. Since factors affecting the HRQoL of children may be affected by developmental processes, the necessity of longitudinal assessment of the HRQoL of stuttering children should be considered.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the ef fectiveness of the Epley maneuver performed without any additional medical treatment on symptoms and quality of life in patients diagnosed with canalithiasis type posterior canal BPPV with the Dix- Hallpike (DH) test in two District Hospitals of Antalya -Turkey.

Methods: A total of 55 patients who were admitted to the ENT Departments Kumluca and Serik State Hospitals, Antalya between November 2019 and June 2020 with complaining of positional vertigo who were diagnosed as posterior canal BPPV with the Dix Hallpike (DH) test was included in this study.

Results: Fifty-five cases with dizziness and vertigo complaints enrolled in our study. Thirty-four of the patients were male (%43.6), and 21 cases were female (%56.4). The ages of the patients were between 32 and 81with an average of 52.4±13.3 years. Statistically significant improvement was obtained at Vertigo Symptom Scale, Vertigo Dizziness Imbalance Symptom Scale, and Vertigo, Dizziness Imbalance health-related quality of life scale after the application of Epley maneuver

Conclusion: In our study, Epley maneuver efficacy without any additional medical treatment was found to be very high in BPPV patients. As a result of this study, we wanted to emphasize that medical treatment to every patient presenting with dizziness and vertigo complaints is not a correct approach.

Objective: Although nasal septal abscesses are mostly caused by trauma, they may occur due to non-traumatic causes. In the present study, we aimed to review patients who underwent electrocauterization of the nasal mucosa for epistaxis and subsequently developed a nasal septal abscess.

Methods: The study included 11 patients who underwent nasal electrocauterization for epistaxis and were subsequently admitted to our clinic with a pre-diagnosis of septal abscess for drainage of the abscess. The medical records of the patients, including details such as age, sex, duration of follow-up, symptoms, chronic diseases, microbiological cultures, radiological investigations and complications were retrospectively evaluated.

Results: Of the 11 patients included, seven were male and four were female with a mean age of 66.18±3.7 years. The mean duration of follow-up was 29.09±17.5 months; five patients had both hypertension and diabetes mellitus, three patients had only diabetes mellitus and three patients had only hypertension. Microbiological culture of the purulent material collected during septal abscess drainage revealed no bacterial growth in six patients, growth of Staphylococcus aureus in two patients and growth of Corynebacterium amycolatum in one patient. Four patients underwent preoperative computed tomography (CT) of the paranasal sinuses and five patients developed a saddle nose deformity in the long-term follow-up.

Conclusion: All surgical interventions to the nose or cauterization procedures should be performed under sterile conditions, especially in patients with chronic diseases, and such patients should be followed up after the procedure.

Objective: Our study aims to determine the prevalence and distribution characteristics of oral mucosal lesions (OML), which are frequently encountered in clinical practice, and determine the correlation between dermatological pre-diagnoses and definite histopathological diagnoses.

Methods: The clinical data of 361 individuals who were consulted by Dermatology to the Otolaryngology Clinic of Sakarya University Faculty of Medicine Training and Research Hospital for oral mucosal lesions and underwent excision biopsy were included in the study. Each patient’s data, such as gender, age, and smoking history, were scanned and recorded. Regarding the lesions, localization of the lesions, duration of their presence, clinical pre-diagnoses, and definite diagnoses were recorded. Accordingly, the diagnostic distribution characteristics of the lesions and the correlation between diagnoses were evaluated.

Results: When the age and gender distribution of the patients included in the study were examined, 152 (42.1%) were male, and 209 (57.9%) were female. The average age was 49.72 ± 1.21. While 134 patients (57,37,1%) were ≥65 years old, 227 patients (62,9%) were under 65 years old. 185 (51.2%) of the lesions were localized in the buccal mucosa. The most common ones were chronic inflammatory lesions (21.1%) and lesions of traumatic origin (13.3%). A statistically significant correlation was observed between clinical presuppositions and definite histopathological diagnoses (p <0.05). When we evaluated histopathological diagnoses according to gender and age distribution, no difference was observed in gender distribution. At the same time, premalignant and malignant lesions were statistically significantly higher in elderly individuals (65 years and over) seen. In terms of smoking habits, it was seen that smoking was significantly associated with premalignant and malignant diseases (p <0.05).

Conclusion: This study on oral mucosal lesions, which concern a significant part of the society, will be critical in terms of its contribution to epidemiological data as well as evaluating the reliability of preliminary dermatological diagnoses.

Objective: There are few studies regarding the use of predictive tests for difficult airways in pediatrics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the modified Mallampati test (MMT), the upper lip bite test (ULBT) and anthropometric measurements of the head and neck in the prediction of difficult airways in children.

Methods: Forty-eight pediatric patients who underwent elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation were recruited for the study. During the preanesthetic evaluation, airway status was evaluated using three methods: MMT, ULBT and anthropometric measurements of the head and neck. Laryngoscopy was performed with a single blade of a videolaryngoscope and airway status was evaluated using the Cormack-Lehane classification. All patients were then classified into two groups: difficult airway or easy airway.

Results: Ten (20.8%) patients were classified as the difficult airway group. In this group, 80% of the patients had MMT grade 3-4 (p=0.001) while 50% of the patients were classified as ULBT 3 (p=0.000). Interincisor distance (ID), hyomental distance (HMD), distance from ear tragus to the corner of the mouth (DTM) and distance from frontal plane to chin (DFC) were significantly different between the groups (p<0.05). In ROC curve analysis, ULBT had the largest area under the curve (AUC=0.880).

Conclusion: ULBT, MMT, HMD and ID were the most consistent predictors of difficult airway status. ULBT was superior to other tests because of its larger AUC and higher sensitivity and specificity rates. However, difficulty in applicability in young children seemed to be the most important limitation of both ULBT and MMT.

Objective: Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy (SCIT) is an effective treatment method for allergic rhinitis, asthma and venom allergy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of adverse reactions in children undergoing SCIT.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients that underwent SCIT in our clinic for a period of five years due to a diagnosis of Apis mellifera venom allergy or allergic asthma and/or rhinitis. 303 patients were divided into groups based on the form of SCIT administered and the presence of injection-related reactions.

Results: Mean age at the initiation of SCIT was 10 (range, 5-18) years old. SCIT for aeroallergens was administered to 289 (95.4%) patients and SCIT for venom to 14 (4.6%) patients. Local reactions were observed in 54 (17.8%) and systemic reactions developed in 4 (1.3%) patients. The local reactions mostly occurred after SCIT with Apis mellifera venom (100%), followed by house dust mite (20.6%), mold (16.7%) and grass pollen (16.7%).

Conclusion: Although SCIT is a safe treatment method used for allergic diseases, it must be administered only in centers with appropriate emergency equipment due to the risk of side effects.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to observe and evaluate the possible complications of Transoral Endonasal-Controlled Combined Endoscopic Adenoidectomy (TECCA) as a subtype of power-assisted endoscopic adenoidectomy (PAEA) in pediatric patients.

Methods: Sixty-seven children aged between 2 and 12 years who had been diagnosed with adenoid hypertrophy and underwent TECCA from April 2013 to December 2016 as a single procedure (without myringotomy or any kind of tonsil surgery at the same time) were included. Preoperative risk assessment results and intraoperative and post-operative complications were evaluated.

Results: Intraoperative and early post-operative bleeding was observed in four (5.97%) patients. There was no post-operative complication except for bleeding and no patients were found to have residual adenoid tissue during the six-month post-operative follow-up period.

Conclusion: Endonasal endoscopic control during adenoidectomy helps to identify vascular structures that would normally be at risk of being injured with blind resection. Endoscopic viewing also enables complete removal of intranasal adenoid tissue without significant prolongation in operation time.

Objectives: One of the main prosodic components of language is the rate. Speaking and articulation rates are two different measurements that reflect various aspects of each other. This study mainly aimed to present preliminary normative data related to speaking rate, reading rate, articulation rate and articulation rate in reading for Turkish-speaking adults and also aimed to compare these four measurements in terms of gender.

Methods: The present study included 84 university students (42 males and 42 females) aged between 19-24 years old whose native language was Turkish. Power analysis was calculated based on the articulation rate. Speech and articulation rates were measured by taking 400-syllable conversational speech samples from each participant. A text was used from the Adult II section of the Turkish version of the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test to measure their reading rates. The speaking and reading samples obtained were recorded with a voice recorder and analyzed with the PRAAT software.

Results: There was a statistically significant difference both between their speaking and reading rates, and between articulation rate and articulation rate in reading. Male participants had significantly higher articulation rates in speaking and reading than females.

Conclusion: The present study provided evidence that the speech rate is low and articulation rate is high in Turkish. It concluded that the significant difference between articulation rates by gender in many languages is also valid for Turkish.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Sulindac on cell viability, cell cycle and angiogenesis in pharyngeal cancer cell lines (FaDu).

Methods: FaDu cells were incubated in a medium in a 5% CO2 incubator at 37°C, after which they were proliferated and passaged. IC50 concentration was used to determine the Sulindac dose. Cells were analyzed for cell viability, cell count and cell cycle after Sulindac administration. Immunohistochemistry (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) and western blot (A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin-like motifs 1-ADAMTS1) analyses were used for angiogenesis assessment.

Results: Cell viability decreased in pharyngeal cancer cells after Sulindac administration. In addition, FaDU cells were arrested in the G2/M phase. Sulindac was found to slightly increase vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-R2) and decrease ADAMTS1 levels in pharyngeal cancer cells.

Conclusion: Sulindac showed positive results on cell proliferation in the treatment of pharyngeal cancer cells. However, it could cause a slight increase in angiogenesis.