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Periorbital soft-tissue bacterial infections are relatively common during childhood and with appropriate antimicrobial therapy usually resolve quickly. Orbital soft-tissue infections, in contrast, are rare and frequently cause serious morbidity. Two hundred forty-one children with periorbital or orbital soft-tissue infections have been hospitalized since 1962 and constitute the data base for this study. Two hundred twenty-six children, half under 1 year of age, had periorbital soft-tissue infections. Response to antimicrobials was prompt and only two children (1%) developed complications. True orbital infections occurred in the remaining 15 children, three of whom were under 6 years of age. Eleven children had orbital cellulitis, 3 had subperiosteal abscesses, and 1 had cavernous sinus thrombosis. Antecedent sinusitis was present in 12 cases and, in seven, effective treatment required surgical drainage in addition to intensive antimicrobial therapy. Three children (20%) developed significant complications.

A retrospective study of patients with papillary carcinoma of the thyroid was conducted at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to determine the significance of cervical nodal metastases in which the cancer has extended beyond the capsule of the node. The survival of 25 patients with extracapsular invasion was compared to 63 controls. There was no statistically significant difference in regional recurrence, distant metastases, death from cancer, or recurrence-free survival between the two groups. Surgically resectable extrathyroid extension of tumor at the primary site and the clinical stage of cervical metastases also had no prognostic significance. The most important prognostic factors for differentiated thyroid carcinoma remain the age and sex of the patient, the histology of the cancer, and the presence of distant metastatic disease.

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