Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a chronic nasal disease that affects the upper respiratory tract. This disorder is characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes and it manifests with several nasal symptoms accompanied sometimes by non-nasal symptoms. Best therapy aims to prevent and improve the AR-clinical picture. Steroids have an important role in the treatment of AR. The development of ste...

Intubating patients with a huge, fixed supraglottic mass causing an obstruction of the glottis is difficult to most anesthesiologists. We attempted awake fiberoptic orotracheal intubation assisted by Glidescope® Videolaryngoscope (GVL) following topical anesthesia with 4% lidocaine spray and remifentanil infusion. The glottis could not be identified by the GVL view. However, by entering toward ...

BACKGROUND Sarcoidosis is a chronic, systemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology that features noncaseating granulomas in many body regions. Sinonasal involvement is rare but is also suspected to be underreported. CASE PRESENTATION We present the case of a 39-year-old woman who was incidentally diagnosed with isolated sarcoidosis involving the middle turbinates. Histopathologic examina...

We studied 1240 consecutive referrals to our unit with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (haemetemesis and / or melaena) from April 2004 to April 2009. All patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (GIF -140 or GIF -160 Olympus – Tokyo, Japan) under topical anaesthesia with xylocainTM pharyngeal spray, except 5 who needed sedation with intravenous midazolam (dormicumTM). The cause of bl...

It has been shown in experimental animals that the living cells in a bone autograft can make an important contribution to osteogenesis. However, some common clinical techniques, such as the topical use of antibiotic powders on grafts or on the graft bed, are likely to damage or kill the cells. In this experimental study in rats, bone isografts dusted with chloramphenicol or methicillin powder o...

Objective. The presence of an upper airway foreign body is an emergent, potentially life-threatening situation that requires careful but rapid evaluation and management. Organic or nonorganic material may typically be found in the pyriform sinuses or tongue base or may be aspirated directly into the tracheobronchial tree. We present here an unusual case report of a patient who accidentally inge...

We report a case of a laryngectomized patient who accidentally aspirated a wooden stick through his tracheal stoma in highly unusual circumstances. He was in a habit of cleaning secretions of upper airway with a wooden stick covered with cotton on the tip soaked in olive oil, via tracheostomy. After applying topical aerolized lidocaine spray through the tracheostomy stoma a flexible video-broch...

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of inflammatory and neoplastic head and neck masses has become a widely used procedure in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Using both subjective (patient perception) and objective (complication rate, accuracy) criteria, this prospective study evaluated patients undergoing FNA with and without anesthesia. Seventy-five patients were enrolled into 1 of 3 study gro...

Rokitamycin is a new macrolide containing 16 carbon atoms, strongly inhibitory for Acanthamoeba castellanii, an opportunistic protozoa of humans which cause primarily amoebic keratitis and chronic, but fatal, amoebic granulomatous meningoencephalitis. Chitosan microspheres were prepared as carriers to obtain a controlled release of rokitamycin, able to improve the antiamoebic activity of this d...

A 23-year-old spray painter developed contact dermatitis and respiratory difficulty characterized by small airways obstruction shortly after the polyfunctional aziridine cross-linker CX-100 began to be used in his workplace as a paint activator. The symptoms resolved after he was removed from the workplace and was treated with inhaled and topical steroids. Painters may have an increased risk of...