Background: Regenerating gene (REG) family is composed of antiapoptotic factors and growth factors that affect

epithelial cells within the digestive system. Regenerating gene-I has been studied in different cancers. However, it

has never been studied in head and neck cancer. We investigated the expression of REG-I in head and neck SCC

and its relevance to patient survival rates.

 Methods: Untreated biopsy specimens of 60 patients with stage IV head and neck SCC were collected, and the

expression of REG-I was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. The association between REG-I expression and

clinico-pathological features or survival status of the patients was assessed by Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and

Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify the independent prognostic factors.

 Results: Incidence of lymphatic permeation, vascular invasion and pathological lymph nodes was significantly

higher in REG-I negative group (p = 0.008, 0.030 and 0.015, respectively). Overall and cancer-free survival rates were

significantly higher in REG-I positive group (p = 0.000434 and 1.0847E-8, respectively). Univariate analysis showed

that REG-I was an independent prognostic factor for predicting long-term overall survival (p = 0.002), and multivariate

analysis showed that REG-I and lymphatic permeation were independent prognostic factors for predicting long-term

disease-free survival (p = 0.001 and 0.022, respectively).

 Conclusion: Our results showed for the first time that, REG-I is expressed in head and neck SCC. REG-I expression is

associated with a longer survival status. We conclude that, REG-I might be a prognostic marker in head and neck SSC

and should be further investigated.

 Introduction: Patency of the eustachian tube has been proved to be mandatory for successful tympanoplasty. Preoperative evaluation of the eustachian tube through Saccharin and methylene blue tests provides adequate information about the mucociliary function and patency of the eustachian tube

 Objective: We aimed to evaluate the mucociliary function of the eustachian tube using saccharin and methylene blue tests, hence we could predict the outcome of tympanoplasty.

Patients and methods: This prospective study was done on 50 adult patients who were diagnosed as having unilateral tubotympanic type of chronic suppurative otitis media. All patients were subjected to preoperative evaluation of hearing and eustachian tube mucociliary function through saccharin and methylene blue dye clearance tests. Then, we correlated the results and the outcome of the surgery.

 Results: According to our results, normal eustachian tube function (ETF) was found in 39 patients, while mild and gross dysfunction was found in eight and three patients respectively. The correlation between ETF and the outcome of tympanoplasty was proved to be statistically significant (P< 0.001), as 85.3% of patients with successful tympanoplasty had a normally functioning ET, while all of the patients with a gross dysfunction of ET had a failed surgery.

 Conclusion: We found that both tests could be a helpful tool to assess the mucociliary function and anatomical patency of the eustachian tube. While, the Saccharin test has the advantages of cost-effectiveness, avoiding the painting produced by the dye, and lacking the need for an endoscope.

Background: One of the most serious complications of temporal bone fracture is facial nerve paralysis. Early diagnosis of traumatic facial nerve paralysis has a very crucial impact on its outcome. Reaching an optimum diagnosis requires good imaging modalities .

Objective: We aimed to determine the validity of multislice computed tomography in temporal bone fracture.

Patients and methods: We enrolled 20 patients with traumatic facial nerve paralysis secondary to temporal bone fracture with a mean age of 23.10±11.44 years. Most of the patients were males, and motor car accident was the most frequent cause of trauma. All patients had preoperative high-resolution CT(HRCT) scanning, and the results were compared with the intraoperative findings.

Results: HRCT had the highest diagnostic accuracy (95%) for the detection of the mastoid process and otic capsule fractures, followed by squamous part fracture (80%). The least diagnostic accuracy was in the detection of fracture of the posterior meatal wall (45%). Fracture of the tympanic portion of the temporal bone was present in three patients while HRCT failed to catch it. Bone chips and edema of the facial nerve were the most frequent findings intraoperatively.

Conclusion: HRCT has an additive role in the assessment of facial nerve injury in case of temporal bone fracture, but should be interpreted with caution where it might underestimate the severity in some cases.

Background& aim: Many previous studies proved that nasal septal deviation has an important effect on the development of the bones of the nose, as well as morphology and other features of facial bones. Assessment of the morphology of the nose helps in obtaining favorable surgical outcomes. We designed this work to discover the association between nasal morphology and nasal septum deviation.

Patients & methods: This study included 120 patients over 18 years old with symptomatic nasal septum deviation who were exposed to CT scanning of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The following parameters were assessed; direction of nasal deviation and its angle in addition to nasal morphology; internasal angle of the nose, the nasal bone length, and the thickness of intermediate and lateral nasal bone on the two sides.

Results: Studied patients’ mean age was 38.08 ± 17.27 years and the majority (70%) of them were males. Out of studied patients, 64 (53.3%) patients had deviated septum toward the right side while in 56 (46.7%) patients it deviated to the left side. It was observed that there were no important differences between types of deviation direction as regarding age, sex, and deviation angle (P= 0.41, 0.09, and 0.61, respectively). Both sexes had insignificant differences as regarding nasal morphology with exception of significantly higher internasal angle (60.33 ± 8.15 vs. 56.19 ± 9.52 degree; P= 0.02), and left intermediate osteotomy thickness (1.92 ± 0.35 vs. 1.77 ± 0.41mm; P= 0.04) in males’ patients. Severe deviation was presented in 19 (15.8%) patients.

Conclusion: This work concludes that deviation of the septum of the nose might influence the morphology of the nasal bones as the length of nasal bone; thickness and lateral osteotomy thickness on the same side of the deviation were altogether more prominent than on the contralateral.