A 1-year-6-month-old girl presented with a subcutaneous tumor of the forehead, which had developed since birth. The preoperative examinations showed nasofrontal bone defect with meningocele and subcutaneous tumor with cyst. The patient underwent excision of the tumor and reconstruction of the bone defect. Histologically, the skin tumor exhibited disordered arrangement of striated muscle fibers among normal dermal components, and the cyst was lined by cornified epithelium with a few hair adnexa and contained lamellated keratin. These findings were consistent with rhabdomyomatous mesenchymal hamartoma (RMH) and dermoid cyst. This is an interesting case of RMH co-existing with nasofrontal meningocele and dermoid cyst in the same area. We suggest embryologic errors as a possible etiology, which is incomplete dysjunction of the neural ectoderm from the cutaneous ectoderm. Failure of insertion of mesoderm between the ectoderms caused the bone defect and the disordered proliferation and differentiation of mesoderm-derived tissue, leading to formation of hamartoma.

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The nerve graft procedure may contribute to the recovery of urinary function as well as sexual function after radical retropubic prostatectomy. This finding needs to be validated in a randomized trial.

A 1-year-old female was admitted with a subcutaneous, pulsatile soft mass in the midline parietal region, and abnormal head shape. Fundus examination showed papilledema, suggesting elevated intracranial pressure. Radiological findings showed sagittal suture craniosynostosis with sinus pericranii. Magnetic resonance venography showed that the drainage through the sinus pericranii was not essential for the venous outflow from the brain. The patient underwent surgical resection of the sinus pericranii and total cranial remodeling. Ligation of the stalk-like orifice attached to the superior sagittal sinus with resection of the sinus pericranii and total cranial reconstruction were performed concurrently. The postoperative course was uneventful, and her papilledema resolved. No recurrence of the sinus pericranii has occurred for 3 years. This case describes a unique one-staged operation to treat sinus pericranii with sagittal suture craniosynostosis.

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Purpose:To determine the effect of an interposition nerve graft on sexual function after radical prostatectomy. Methods: This study includes 64 patients, without hormonal therapy, who underwent a radical prostatectomy and intraoperative electrophysiological confirmation of cavernous nerve preservation. Twelve patients underwent a unilateral interposition sural nerve graft (UNG) for the resected neurovascular bundle. Twenty-one and 31 patients underwent bilateral nerve-sparing (BNS) and unilateral nerve-sparing (UNS) surgery without a nerve graft, respectively. As the age of patients was significantly younger in the UNG group than in the other groups, age-matched analysis also was conducted. Sexual function, evaluated by a self-administered questionnaire using the University of California Los AngelesProstate Cancer Index, was compared statistically among the three groups. Results: In the age-matched analysis, the postoperative sexual function (SXF) score of the UNG group showed an intermediate level of recovery between those of the BNS and UNS groups at 12 months and reached the same level as the score at 12 months of the BNS group at 18 months postoperatively. The difference in the SXF score between the UNG and UNS groups began to appear after 6 months postoperatively and increased steadily with time. However, the background factors, such as the baseline SXF score, the usage rate of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors, and the rate of comorbidities were different between the UNG and UNS groups. Conclusions:The difference of the SXF score between the UNG and UNS groups increased with time after 6 months postoperatively. However, it might be difficult at present to attribute a better recovery of the SXF score to the nerve graft because of the difference in the background factors between the groups.Key words: cavernous nerve-sparing, quality of life, radical prostatectomy, sexual function, sural nerve graft. IntroductionRadical prostatectomy has gained popularity in Japan for the last decade as one of the definitive therapeutic options for patients with clinically localized prostate cancer.1 As early prostate cancers are found with the advent of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the survival of patients with prostate cancer is not so different between those undergoing a radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy. Although the primary goal of treatment for localized prostate cancer is cancer control, patients' decisions regarding the treatment modality are greatly influenced by the potential morbidity of treatment, including the risk of erectile dysfunction, 2 one of the most important concerns for those who undergo definitive therapy.Cavernous nerve-sparing has been performed for the purpose of recovering erectile function after radical prostatectomy. The recovery rate of erectile function is 21-76% for bilateral nerve-sparing, while it decreases to 0-30% for unilateral nerve-sparing.3 Therefore, the interposition sural nerve graft has been attempted to confer a greater chance of recovering erectile function for the patients ...

Objective: This study examined whether the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami affected the birth prevalence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) in Miyagi Prefecture, where the earthquake and tsunami caused severe damage. Design: This was a retrospective cohort study. Setting: The study was conducted at university and children’s hospitals in Miyagi Prefecture. Participants: The annual and monthly numbers of infants born with CL/P were obtained from medical records. The affected period of birth was defined as 1 year from December 1, 2011, to November 30, 2012. The control period was 5 years from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2010. The annual and monthly numbers of births in Miyagi Prefecture were obtained using e-Stat, which is a portal for Japanese government statistics. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcome measures were birth prevalence of CL/P during the control and affected periods. Results: There were no significant differences between the control and affected periods in the prevalence (per 10 000 live births) of cleft lip with or without palate (13.8 vs 16.7; P = .342), isolated cleft palate (5.2 vs 3.2; P = .267), or overall CL/P (19.0 vs 19.9; P = .799). Conclusions: We did not observe that the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami affected the birth prevalence of CL/P in Miyagi Prefecture, even though it severely impacted human health in the area.

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