The authors report a case of middle cranial fossa neurinoma arising from the left greater superficial petrosal nerve in a 21-year-old woman who presented with a left-sided otitis media that chronically recurred over a period of 5 years. On examination, the patient had a left-sided mild conductive hearing impairment and a slight disturbance in tear secretion on the left side, with sensory disturbance in the left palate. Three-dimensional computerized tomography scans clearly demonstrated the enlargement of the foramen lacerum and foramen ovale, and heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance images revealed the tumor's location along with the course of the greater superficial petrosal nerve and its extension into the tympanic cavity. Following complete surgical excision of the tumor and tympanoplasty via a middle cranial fossa approach, the patient retained useful hearing without facial palsy.

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Background Tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle are relatively rare and their postoperative clinical outcome has not been well reported. Methods This study retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients who underwent excision of tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle from 2008 to 2020. Preoperative and postoperative clinical outcomes were evaluated by the Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot (JSSF) scales (pain, function, and alignment). Results A total of 117 consecutive patients were analyzed in this study. Bone lesions accounted for 51 patients (benign: 45, intermediate malignancy: 1, malignant: 5), and soft tissue lesions accounted for 66 patients (benign: 57, intermediate malignancy: 2, malignant: 7). Four patients (8%) presenting with bone tumor and six (9%) soft tissue tumors resulted in recurrence. Eight (67%) patients with malignant lesions were alive continuously disease free and followed for a median of 50.5 (range: 18 to 82) months. Amputation at the first operation was done for five cases (33%) of malignant or intermediate malignancy (below-knee amputation: 1, Chopart disarticulation: 1, forefoot amputation: 3). Postoperative JSSF scores resulted in a significant 'positive' increase (bone lesion, 75.9 ± 13.7 to 91.4 ± 14.9, p < 0.001; soft tissue lesion, 84.7 ± 14.8 to 91.9 ± 12.5, p < 0.001). The score improvement in bone lesions was significantly higher than in soft tissue lesions (p = 0.003). Conclusion The surgical management of tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle showed good post-operative functional outcomes with bone lesions exhibiting better results when compared to soft-tissue lesions.

A rat glioma model was employed to estimate the Ca2+ kinetics in the tumor arteriolar smooth muscle cells. Electron microcytochemistry revealed that the density of intracellular Ca2+ deposits in the intra-tumor arteriolar smooth muscle cells was significantly greater, with slightly higher membrane Ca(2+)-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity, compared to the contralateral cerebral arterioles. Furthermore, the administration of tyrphostin, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, specifically increased only the intra-tumor blood flow. These findings suggest that the condition of the intra-tumor arteriole alters the susceptibility to contraction by the accelerated Ca2+ influx into the cytoplasm mediated through the tyrosine kinase pathway. After the administration of diltiazem, which also has a blocking effect on the Ca(2+)-channel mediated through this pathway, the local intra-tumor blood flow showed an increase of 39% with a marked decrease of intracellular Ca2+ concentration of the arteriolar smooth muscle cells in the tumor, while the blood flow in the basal ganglia increased by only 8%. The intra-tumor concentration of Nimustine-HCl (ACNU) with co-administration of diltiazem was significantly increased compared to that without the co-administration. Co-administration of diltiazem may be a valuable strategy in chemotherapy for glioma in affording the selective increase of intra-tumor concentration of the anti-cancer drug.

Background Tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle are relatively rare and their postoperative clinical outcome has not been well reported. Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all patients who underwent excision of tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle from 2008 to 2020. Preoperative and postoperative clinical outcomes were evaluated by the Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot (JSSF) scales (pain, function, and alignment). Results We analyzed 117 consecutive patients. Bone lesions were 51 patients (benign: 45, intermediate malignancy: 1, malignant: 5), and soft tissue lesions were 66 patients (benign: 57, intermediate malignancy: 2, malignant: 7). Four patients (8%) with the bone tumor, and six (9%) with the soft tissue tumor resulted in recurrence. Eight (67%) patients with malignant lesions were alive continuously disease free and followed for a median of 50.5 (range: 18 to 82) months. Amputation at the first operation was done for five cases (33%) of malignant or intermediate malignancy. Postoperative JSSF scores resulted in significant increase (bone lesion, 75.9 ± 13.7 to 91.4 ± 14.9, p < 0.001; soft tissue lesion, 84.7 ± 14.8 to 91.9 ± 12.5, p < 0.001). The score improvement in bone lesions was significantly higher than in soft tissue lesions (p = 0.003). Conclusion Tumors and tumor-like lesions of the foot and ankle showed good functional outcomes. Bone lesions exhibited better improvement than soft tissue lesions.

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