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In this prospective study 45 patients with cervical lymphadenopathy treated by operation, radiation and/or chemotherapy were examined by color-duplex sonography. The aim was to investigate the lymph node perfusion and to find out whether differentiation between benign and malignant nodal disease after therapy was possible by resistance and pulsatility indices. In 200 of 245 lymph nodes (82%) color-duplex sonography was able to detect perfusion. Using a pulsatility index (PI) threshold of 1.6 and resistance index (RI) threshold of 0.8, differentiation between reactive nodal enlargement and metastases was possible with an accuracy of 96%. Differentiation between lymphomas and metastases by RI and PI was not possible. Qualitative assessment of perfusional patterns was useful in detecting malignancy because reactively enlarged nodes showed greater hilar perfusion whereas metastases showed an increased peripheral perfusion. Lymphomas had both increased central and peripheral perfusions.

MR imaging-controlled LITT may be a safe, minimally invasive alternative in the treatment of recurrent head and neck tumors.

Correct diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy is often a great challenge. The objective of this case study is to describe the distribution of the most common causes of unclear neck swellings presented in an ENT-Department and to evaluate the clinical history, examination and laboratory findings. In a retrospective study at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Center Homburg/Saar, 251 patients were enrolled with clinical and ultrasound signs of cervical lymphadenopathy as well as lymph node extirpation for histopathological evaluation. 127 patients (50.6 %) had a histological malignant finding. The distribution of the most common pathological conditions was as follows: Non-specific reactive hyperplasia n = 89 (35.5 %), metastases n = 86 (34.3 %), lymphoma n = 41 (16.3 %), granulomatous lesions n = 15 (6 %), abscess formations n = 5 (2 %), necrotic lymphadenitis and Castleman's disease one case of each, lymph node with normal architecture n = 7 (2.8 %), and neck masses mimicking lymphadenopathy n = 6 cases (2.4 %). The following factors identified by multivariate logistic regression were significantly associated to malignant lymphadenopathy: increasing age, generalized lymphadenopathy and history of malignant disorder, fixed neck masses and increasing diameter in ENT examination, bulky lesion, absence of hilus, blurred outer contour, protective role of the long form and decreasing Solbiati-index values by ultrasound B-Mode gray scale examination. Level II contained more benign lymphatic lesions, while the malignancy rate in level IV and V was enhanced. Laboratory parameters significantly associated to malignancies were CRP, LDH and thrombocytopenia. Patients with persisting cervical lymphadenopathy and over 3 weeks of antibiotic treatment should be considered for early biopsy, especially if some of the risk factors, pointed out in this study, are present.

The aesthesioneuroblastoma (olfactory neuroma) is a rare neuroepithelial tumour of the nasal cavity, the clinical symptoms of which become manifest very late in most patients. In general, with the light microscope used routinely (fixation of the specimens with formaldehyde, staining with haematoxylin-eosine) a malignant round cell neoplasia can be recognised without further differentiation. To ensure the diagnosis of an aesthesioneuroblastoma, immunohistological techniques (vimentin, S-100 protein, neurofilaments, neuron-specific enolase) are undoubtedly necessary. In some cases of unclear findings the electron microscope might be used to prove an aesthesioneuroblastoma. The immunohistological and electron microscopic features of aesthesioneuroblastoma are demonstrated and problems of histological differential diagnosis are discussed.