Benign laryngopharyngeal lesions: a case series

Benign neoplasms of the laryngopharynx are extremely rare. Hereby we present 3 such interesting cases managed at our institute. While one was managed by conventional endoscopic route the other two required external approach. Even in the present era of endoscopic surgery sometimes these lesions necessitates external approach owing to anatomical distortion causing difficulty in intubation and/or inadequate exposure of the lesion. All these cases highlights the need of a competent surgeon to treat benign laryngopharyngeal lesions.     

Anomalous tibialis posterior muscle,functional or functionless?

We present a case report and operative findings of a large anomalous muscle belly adjacent to tibialis posterior, presenting with a palpable mass and a local compressive neuropraxia in a 16-year-old male. Vestigial and anomalous muscle bellies are common within the foot and ankle and compressive neuropathy is reported, but only within physiological tunnels.     

Pneumomediastinum complicating bleomycin related lung damage.

We describe two patients who developed spontaneous pneumomediastinum without pneumothorax against a background of bleomycin-induced pulmonary interstitial disease whilst on treatment for metastatic germ cell tumours of the testis. Pneumomediastinum is a rare but recognized complication of bleomycin-induced lung toxicity, which has previously only been described in association with pneumothorax.     

Ultrasonic technique for imaging tissue vibrations: preliminary results

We propose an ultrasound (US)-based technique for imaging vibrations in the blood vessel walls and surrounding tissue caused by eddies produced during flow through narrowed or punctured arteries. Our approach is to utilize the clutter signal, normally suppressed in conventional color flow imaging, to detect and characterize local tissue vibrations. We demonstrate the feasibility of visualizing the origin and extent of vibrations relative to the underlying anatomy and blood flow in real-time and their quantitative assessment, including measurements of the amplitude, frequency and spatial distribution. We present two signal-processing algorithms, one based on phase decomposition and the other based on spectral estimation using eigen decomposition for isolating vibrations from clutter, blood flow and noise using an ensemble of US echoes. In simulation studies, the computationally efficient phase-decomposition method achieved 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for vibration detection and was robust to broadband vibrations. Somewhat higher sensitivity (98%) and specificity (99%) could be achieved using the more computationally intensive eigen decomposition-based algorithm. Vibration amplitudes as low as 1 mum were measured accurately in phantom experiments. Real-time tissue vibration imaging at typical color-flow frame rates was implemented on a software-programmable US system. Vibrations were studied in vivo in a stenosed femoral bypass vein graft in a human subject and in a punctured femoral artery and incised spleen in an animal model.     

Congenital inclusion tumours in spinal dysraphism

Objective  

To review the presentation, diagnosis and management of children with spinal dysraphism and CIT.