This review presents a comprehensive and updated overview of bigerminal choristomas (hairy polyps) of naso-oropharynx/oral cavity, and discusses the controversies related to nosology and origin from a clinico-embryologic perspective. English-language texts of the last 25 years (January 1989-January 2014) were collected from the PubMed/MEDLINE database using the given keywords. Of the 330 records, 64 full-text articles (mostly case reports/series) were selected, incorporating clinical data from 78 patients, after screening through duplicates and the given exclusion criteria. With the available evidence, hairy polyps appear more common than generally believed, and are increasingly being recognized as an important, often-missed cause of respiratory distress and feeding difficulty in neonates and infants. Such a child without any apparent cause should be examined with flexible nasopharyngoscope to specifically look for hairy polyps which might be life-threatening, especially when small. The female preponderance as believed today has been found to be an overestimation in this review. These lesions are characteristically composed of mature ectodermal and mesodermal tissue derivatives presenting as heterotopic masses, hence termed choristoma. However, little is known about their origin, and whether they are developmental malformations or primitive teratomas is debatable. Involvement of Eustachian tube and tonsils as predominant subsites and the speculated molecular embryogenesis link hairy polyps to the development of the first and second pharyngeal arches. They are exceptionally rare in adults, but form a distinct entity in this age-group and could be explained as delayed pluripotent cell morphogenesis or focal neoplastic malformations, keeping with the present-day understandings of the expanded "teratoma family".

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Ingested foreign bodies that migrate extraluminally are rare. In such cases, exploration of the neck via an external approach is the recommended procedure to remove the object. However, locating such a foreign body can be a difficult task. We report what we believe is the first adult case of fluoroscopically guided localization of an accidentally ingested foreign body that had migrated into the soft tissues of the neck. We also review the other methods used to locate a migrating foreign body.

Groove pancreatitis (GP) is a rare type of segmental pancreatitis, and it remains largely an unfamiliar entity to most physicians. It is often misdiagnosed as pancreatic cancer and autoimmune pancreatitis. With better understanding of radiological findings, preoperative differentiation is often possible. If there is preoperative diagnosis of GP, one can employ non-surgical treatment. But most of the patients ultimately require surgery. Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is the surgical treatment of choice. We report three cases of GP that were treated by Whipple's operation at our unit. All the three patients had a history of long-standing alcohol intake. In the first and third patients, we had a preoperative diagnosis of GP. But, in the second patient, our pre-operative and intra-operative diagnosis was a pancreatic head malignancy. Diagnosis of GP was made only after histopathological examination. All the three patients had uneventful postoperative recovery and were well at 55-, 45- and 24-month follow-up respectively. In addition to detail descriptions of our three cases, a detailed review of the current literature surrounding this clinical entity is also provided in this article.

Even though laryngeal malignancies are the most frequent primary malignancies of the upper aero digestive tract except for oral cavity cancers, laryngeal chondrosarcomas are rare tumors, constituting less than 1% of all laryngeal tumors. We present a rare case of chondrosarcoma arising from the right arytenoid cartilage with sub glottic extension. The mode of presentation and management of the case is presented along with a review of the literature.

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Retained calculi in the cystic duct or gall bladder remnant can present as a post-cholecystectomy problem. Increased suspicion is necessary to diagnose this condition in a symptomatic post-cholecystectomy patient. Ultrasonography usually detects this condition, but magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography is the test of choice for diagnosis as well as for surgical planning. Laparoscopic re-excision of the stump in most cases is feasible and safe. It is increasingly becoming the treatment of choice.

BackgroundThere is paucity of evidence regarding the role of drain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC), and surgeons have placed the drains based on their experiences, not on evidence-based guidelines. This study aims to assess the value of drain in LC for ACC in a randomised controlled prospective study.Patients and methodsAll patients with mild and moderate ACC undergoing LC were assessed. Preoperatively, patients with choledocholithiasis, Mirizzi syndrome and biliary stent were excluded. Intraoperatively or postoperatively, patients with complications, partial cholecystectomies and malignancies were excluded. Patients were randomised using computer-generated random numbers into two groups at the end of cholecystectomy before closure. Requirement of radiologically guided (ultrasonography () or CT) percutaneous aspiration/drainage of symptomatic intra-abdominal collection or reoperation; continuation of parenteral antibiotics beyond 24 hours or change in antibiotics empirically or based on peritoneal fluid culture sensitivity; requirement of postoperative USG or CT scan based on postoperative clinical course; wound infection rates; postoperative pain using numeric rating scale at 6 and 24 hours; and the duration of hospital stay in both groups were noted.ResultsForty-two out of 50 consecutive patients were randomised into two equal groups. Pain score at 6 and 24 hours was less in patients without drain. All other complication rates and duration of stay were similar in both groups.ConclusionsDrains should not be placed routinely after LC in ACC as it increases pain and does not help in detecting or decreasing complications.