No abstract

Objective: To report a case of a recurrent intramuscular hemangioma (IMH) of the lower lip of a 68-year-old female and review the published literature to provide an overview of the presentation, diagnostic strategy, pathological classification, and management of these lesions within the oral cavity. Methods: A case report was conducted by reviewing the documentation at a single institution. A systematic literature review on OVID MEDLINE and PubMed was performed using the MESH terms “intramuscular hemangioma” and “oral cavity,” “tongue,” “cheek,” “buccal,” “gingiva,” and “lip.” Results: A 62-year-old female presented to our institution with a 2 × 2 × 1 cm IMH of the lower lip involving the surrounding orbicularis oris muscle. She underwent a submucosal resection and did well postoperatively. Six and a half years later, she represented to our institution with a new lower lip lesion in the area of her previous resection. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging showed a new 10 × 11 mm lesion with a well circumscribed central component surrounded by ill-defined tissue. Preoperative angiography showed that the lesion was supplied by vessels branching off the left facial artery, which were embolized. She underwent wide-local excision (WLE) with bilateral advancement flaps and at her 2-month postoperative visit has not had recurrence. Conclusion: Only 39 cases of IMH in the oral cavity have been reported, with only 3 others occurring in the lower lip. Here we add the first case of an IMH of the oral cavity that recurred after primary WLE. The patient was successfully retreated with WLE. At a 3-month follow-up visit, she noted some incompetence with oral secretions and occasional tingling along the incision site but no evidence of recurrence.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive neuroendocrine tumor that almost always presents as a cutaneous lesion in the sun-exposed areas on the bodies of elderly white males. Metastasis to lymph nodes in the presence or absence of a known primary site and occurrence of these tumors in non-sun-exposed sites have also been described; however, an incidence of recurrent disease arising in the palatine tonsil in the absence of any detectable primary lesion has never been reported in the literature. In this report, we discuss a case of a 72-year-old female who was found to have a single axillary lymph node, which was resected and proved to be positive for MCC of unknown primary (MCCUP). Since there was no evidence of additional disease, the patient elected not to pursue adjuvant therapies. Six and a half months later, she presented with a complaint of dysphagia and a right-sided exophytic tonsillar mass. Tonsillectomy revealed MCC with no detectable primary cutaneous lesion. She received adjuvant therapy with avelumab and demonstrated a complete response after one year of bi-weekly treatments. Seven months following cessation of adjuvant treatments, surveillance positron emission tomography (PET) revealed enlarged retroperitoneal, pretracheal, periaortic, and left axillary lymph nodes concerning for recurrence. She elected to forgo additional biopsies and restarted avelumab the following month. She continues to be followed up on a monthly basis.

We report a case of a 62-year-old man with epistaxis and right-sided nasal obstruction. Nasal endoscopy revealed an exophytic mass arising from the anterior septum that extended posteriorly to the osteo-meatal complex. Excision with endoscopic sinus surgery was performed. Carcinosarcoma was diagnosed based on histopathology and immunohistochemical studies. The patient declined surgery and opted for chemoradiation therapy for the residual tumor. Six weeks after completion of the treatment, clinical resolution of the right nasal mass was noted. Carcinosarcomas are rare and rapidly growing tumors that have a high recurrence rate and are associated with poor patient prognosis. This report emphasizes the need for patients with prolonged nasal obstruction and epistaxis to consult otolaryngologists and undergo nasal endoscopy for definitive diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Objective: There is controversy regarding the efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid (TXA) in reducing tonsillectomy-related hemorrhage. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the prophylactic role of TXA in tonsillectomy. Methods: We searched 6 databases to identify studies that directly compare the effect of TXA versus controls in tonsillectomy patients. Standardized mean difference was applied to summate the findings across the studies. Dichotomous data were expressed as relative risk. Results: Ten studies representing a total of 111 898 patients were included. The pooled results showed a significant reduction of intraoperative blood loss by 39.02 ml (SMD = −1.05, 95% CI: −1.91 to −0.20, P = .016) and the rate of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage (RR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.65, P < .0001), with no significant difference in reduction of further intervention risk (RR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.45 to 1.35, P = .373). Conclusions: Overall, this study indicates that TXA may reduce blood loss and frequency of post-operative hemorrhage associated with tonsillectomy. Further large, high-quality clinical trials are still needed to explore TXA’s effect on post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage and the safety of its use.