OBJECTIVE To analyze the immune status in situ of tonsils of patients with recurrent tonsillitis (RT) and idiopathic tonsillar hypertrophy (ITH) with the aim to discuss the indications of tonsillectomy (TE) and tonsillotomy (TT) in young children. METHODS The histological and immunohistological study of tonsillar tissue of RT and ITH in correlation with immunological parameters in peripheral ...

Surgically removed palatine tonsils provide a conveniently accessible source of T and B lymphocytes to study the interplay between foreign pathogens and the host immune system. In this study we have characterised the distribution of human adenovirus (HAdV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in purified tonsillar T and B cell-enriched fractions isolated from three patient...

BACKGROUND Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes acute tonsillopharyngitis in children, and approximately 20% of this population are chronic carriers of GAS. Antibacterial therapy has previously been shown to be insufficient at clearing GAS carriage. Bacterial biofilms are a surface-attached bacterial community that is encased in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. Biofilms have been s...

Tonsillar metastasis from lung cancer is an extremely rare event and is usually related to metastatic spread of the neoplastic disease to other organs with poor prognosis. We present the unusual case of a 71-year-old man who developed a huge metastasis to the left palatine tonsil from a lung adenocarcinoma. The tumor was exophytic with necrotic and hemorrhagic areas, occupying a large portion o...

Fibromatosis is a non-metastatic, however locally invasive tumor that may infiltrate muscle, fat, and bone. It may be fatal depending on its location. Tumors in the head and neck are particularly dangerous. These fibroblast tumors have poorly defined margins and are not encapsulated. Anaplasia and invasion of nerves and vessels are not present; mitosis is rare and there may be collagen between ...

INTRODUCTION  Hyperplasia of the pharyngeal tonsil is one of the main causes of mouth breathing, and accurate diagnosis of this alteration is important for proper therapeutic planning. Therefore, studies have been conducted in order to provide information regarding the procedures that can be used for the diagnosis of pharyngeal obstruction. OBJECTIVE  To verify the correlation between nasopha...

AIM To investigate the ability of natural chymase inhibitors to modulate histamine release from human mast cells. METHODS Enzymatically dispersed cells from human lung, tonsil, and skin were challenged with anti-IgE or calcium ionophore A23187 in the absence or presence of the natural chymase inhibitors secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) and alpha(1)-antitrypsin, then histamine rel...

OBJECTIVES (1) To assess the safety and efficacy of outpatient intracapsular tonsillectomy, which has been recently described as a less invasive means of treating obstructive tonsillar hypertrophy, in children younger than 3 years; and (2) to challenge the standard dictum that children younger than 3 years should be admitted to the hospital after tonsil and adenoid surgery. DESIGN Retrospecti...

OBJECTIVE To design and validate a disease-specific health status instrument-the Tonsil and Adenoid Health Status Instrument-for use in children with tonsil and adenoid disease. DESIGN Prospective psychometric and clinimetric instrument validation in 3 stages. SETTINGS A tertiary academic pediatric specialty hospital and a tertiary academic hospital, in 2 different cities. PATIENTS/OTHER PA...