This prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded phase I clinical trial investigates safety and efficacy of botulinum toxin (BoNT) to preserve gland function after radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer. Twelve patients with advanced head and neck cancer were injected with BoNT into the submandibular glands prior to primary radiochemotherapy. Six patients received BoNT/A and 6 patients BoNT/A and B, half of each subgroup into their left and the other half into their right gland. As an internal control, sodium chloride was injected into the respective contralateral gland (placebo). For the evaluation of the salivary gland function, technetium pertechnetate salivary gland scintigraphy was performed before and after the end of radiotherapy. BoNT/A and B were well tolerated. Analysis of the scintigraphic data revealed no statistically significant difference between BoNT and placebo regarding the scintigraphic uptake difference (pBoNT/A = 0.84 and pBoNT/A-B = 0.56 for BoNT/A vs. placebo and BoNT/A-B vs. placebo, respectively). We also found no significant difference in treatment between BoNT and placebo in terms of salivary excretion fraction (pBoNT/A = 0.44; pBoNT/A-B = 0.44). This study demonstrates that BoNT can be safely combined with radiochemotherapy. Dosing and timing of BoNT injection should be further investigated for efficacy analysis.Trial RegistrationGerman Registry for Clinical Trails DRKS00004595

These results indicate that it is not possible reliably to determine the exact intracochlear positions of electrodes using CBCT. Imaging of isolated temporal bones produced significantly greater artefacts than imaging of the whole head. Evaluations of image quality based only on results for isolated temporal bones are not transferable to clinical situations, and should be assessed critically.

Level IV metastases seem to be a predictive factor for pulmonary metastases but not for overall and disease-free survival in patients with HNSCC.

Background/Aim: Vascular anomalies encompass different vascular malformations [arteriovenous (AVM), lymphatic (LM), venous lymphatic (VLM), venous (VM)] and vascular tumors such as hemangiomas (HA). The pathogenesis of vascular anomalies is still poorly understood. Viral infection was speculated as a possible underlying cause. Materials and Methods: A total of 13 human vascular anomalies and three human skin control tissues were used for viral analysis. RNA derived from AVM (n=4) and normal skin control (n=3) tissues was evaluated by RNA sequencing. The Virome Capture Sequencing Platform for Vertebrate Viruses (VirCapSeq-VERT) was deployed on 10 tissues with vascular anomalies (2×AVM, 1×HA, 1×LM, 2×VLM, 4×VM). Results: RNA sequencing did not show any correlation of AVM with viral infection. By deploying VirCapSeq-VERT, no consistent viral association was seen in the tested tissues. Conclusion: The analysis does not point to the presence of an active viral infection in vascular anomalies. However, transient earlier viral infections, e.g. during pregnancy, cannot be excluded with this approach.

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