The volume to be irradiated during selective neck irradiation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Apathy, defined as decreased goal‐directed activity, has been observed in Parkinson's disease. A number of cognitive/psychiatric features have been documented in essential tremor, yet we are unaware of studies of apathy. Methods: Using the Apathy Evaluation Scale (range = 18–72 [more apathy]), we compared 79 essential tremor cases, 20 dystonia cases, and 39 Parkinson's disease cases with 80 normal controls. Results: The score of the Apathy Evaluation Scale was higher in essential tremor, dystonia, and Parkinson's disease cases than controls (all P ≤ .04). Parkinson's disease cases had the highest scores. Analyses stratified by presence/absence of depressive symptoms indicated the presence of a group of apathetic but nondepressed cases. Conclusions: Patients with Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia had elevated apathy scores. Features of apathy seemed to occur in these conditions independent of depressive symptoms. The mechanistic basis for the apparent increased features of apathy in essential tremor and dystonia deserves further study. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society

High-risk factors of parotid lymph node metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a case-control study

“…And the previously reported incidence of level II involvement was 75.1–95.5 % in node-positive NPC patients [3–6]. Our finding showed 100 % involvement in level II in both groups.…”

“…It has been reported that the incidence of PLNM was 0.6 % ~ 3.0 % in whole NPC patients [3–7, 16]. And similarly, the incidence of PLNM was 1.8 % in whole patients and was 3.3 % in N2-3 NPC patients in this study.…”

“…Retropharyngeal nodes were the first echelon of nodal metastases in NPC and the incidence of RPN involvement was 75.1–94.0 % in node-positive NPC [3–7, 16]. However, RPN involvement, ENS, necrosis, and SLD showed no significant difference between the two groups.…”

“…Theoretically, nasopharyngeal carcinoma is at risk of harboring parotid lymph node metastasis (PLNM). However, the reported incidence of PLNM in NPC patients was only 0.6–3.0 % [3–7]. Direct lymphatic drainage from nasopharynx to parotid was to be questioned.…”

Diffusion-weighted imaging to differentiate metastatic from non-metastatic retropharyngeal lymph nodes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

“…5 Although MRI has proven to be an invaluable tool for distinguishing RLN and cervical lymph node metastasis, 2,15,16 functional imaging, such as DWI, has been shown to facilitate diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in other malignant diseases. [17][18][19][20] Here, we evaluated the utility of DWI in differentiating metastatic from benign RLN in NPC, compared the accuracy of size-and ADC-based criteria in RLN metastasis and determined whether DWI would at all improve the diagnostic accuracy of RLN metastasis.…”