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Introduction: Deep periodontal pockets pose a great challenge for nonsurgical periodontal treatment. Scaling and root planing (SRP) alone may not suffice in cases where surgical therapy cannot be undertaken. Various recent studies have suggested the use of antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT) for the management of periodontal infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using aPDT along with SRP, compared to SRP alone for the management of deep periodontal pockets. Methods: Thirty patients with chronic periodontitis, who met the criteria of having periodontal pockets with depth ≥ 6 mm and bleeding on probing (BOP) in at least 2 different quadrants were included. After SRP, one quadrant was randomly selected for aPDT (test), while another served as control. Clinical parameters i.e. plaque index (PI), modified sulcular bleeding index (mSBI), probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured at baseline, 1 month and 3 months post-treatment intervals. Results: All clinical parameters significantly improved in both groups after 1 and 3 months. At 1-month interval, inter-group difference in mean change was statistically significant (P < 0.05) in terms of mSBI (0.85 ± 0.41in test vs 0.54 ± 0.47 in control group) and PD (1.77±0.86 in test vs 1.3 ± 0.95 in control group). At 3 months interval, no statistically significant difference was observed between test and control groups except in terms of mSBI (0.97 ± 0.45 in test vs 0.73 ± 0.42 in control group). Conclusion: aPDT appears to play an additional role in reduction of gingival inflammation when used along with nonsurgical mechanical debridement of deep periodontal pockets.

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Majority of patients obtained CR/VGPR post-ASCT. Longer PFS was seen with patients who were transplanted in first remission.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate lactoferrin quantification as a sensitive and objective method of detecting the degree of periodontal inflammation, oxidative stress and to monitor the effects of periodontal therapy. Methods: Fifty subjects were divided into two groups based on gingival index, probing pocket depth, clinical attachment loss and alveolar bone loss: healthy group and periodontitis group with generalized chronic periodontitis. Non-surgical periodontal therapy was rendered and crevicular fluid samples collected at baseline and four weeks after therapy for lactoferrin quantification using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The correlation between clinical parameters and lactoferrin levels was drawn and analysed for both groups. Results: The mean level of crevicular lactoferrin in the periodontitis group was 1857.21 ng/ml. The mean level decreased to 1415.03 ng/ml after treatment. The lowest lactoferrin concentration was seen in the healthy group (75.34 ng/ml). All clinical parameters correlated positively with lactoferrin levels. Conclusions: The lactoferrin level was higher in the periodontitis group compared to the healthy group, and reduced with periodontal therapy. Higher levels were associated with higher values of clinical parameters, both before and after therapy. The data indicates that Lactoferrin plays an important role in periodontal disease and crevicular lactoferrin quantification can be a marker for detecting periodontal inflammation, oxidative stress and monitoring periodontal therapy.

In 1986, 50 patients with stages II and III carcinoma of the cervix were entered into this prospective randomized study. Twenty‐five cases (Group I) were treated only by radical radiation whereas remaining 25 cases (Group II) received local hyperthermia in addition to radical radiation. Hyperthermia was delivered by intracavitary brachyhyperthermia approach using an endotract applicator. Both the groups were followed up for a minimum period of 18 months. Group II patients achieved better local control (14 out of 20 evaluable cases) than the Group I patients (11 out of 22 evaluable cases). A disturbing observation was the increased incidence of distant metastasis in Group II (4 out of 23 cases) as compared to Group I (1 out of 23 cases), though most of them remained disease free locally. The increasing use of hyperthermia in the management of various cancers needs to be reviewed in this context.

Congenital absence of the left circumflex artery is a rare coronary anomaly with few reported cases in the literature. These patients are usually diagnosed incidentally when they undergo coronary angiography or coronary CT to rule out underlying coronary artery disease. In this article, we report a case of a 46-year-old man who was incidentally found to have a congenitally absent left circumflex artery with a superdominant right coronary artery after a workup was initiated for frequent premature ventricular contractions and regional wall motion on echocardiogram. A review of the clinical presentation, symptoms, and diagnostic modalities used to diagnose this entity is presented.

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