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A 15-year-old female patient developed facial nerve paralysis following surgical excision of a right parotid mass at another center. The histopathologic diagnosis of the lesion was mucoepidermoid carcinoma. On admission to our clinic, she underwent extended total parotidectomy and functional neck dissection. For facial nerve reanimation, cervical plexus nerve grafting was performed for frontal and buccal branches, and ansa hypoglossi anastomosis for the marginal mandibular branch. Postoperative radiotherapy was administered. Facial nerve functions returned to normal in the postoperative sixth month (House-Brackmann grade II). No locoregional recurrence or distant metastasis occurred in the follow-up period.

Objectives: We investigated factors that affect the technique to be used in cholesteatoma surgery., Patients and Methods: The study included 186 patients who underwent surgery for suppurative chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma. Open technique (group A) was used in 143 patients, and closed technique (group B) was used in 43 patients. The two groups were compared with respect to medical (age, sex, hearing loss, mastoid pneumatization, site of cholesteatoma, complications) and paramedical (education level, postoperative patient compliance, health insurance, the season at the time of operation) factors., Results: Medical factors that differed significantly between the two groups included the degree of hearing loss, site of cholesteatoma, and presence of complications. The only significant difference was in education level among the paramedical factors. A great majority of patients with a hearing loss above 60 dB were in group A. Cholesteatoma was localized in the middle ear and attic in 10 patients, and in the antrum and/or mastoid cells in 133 patients in group A, compared to 37 and six patients in group B, respectively. All the patients (n=34) who had chronic otitis media complications associated with cholesteatoma were in group A., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that selection of the technique for cholesteatoma surgery depends on more than one factor.

Objectives: This study sought to determine whether unilateral tonsillectomy was effective in the treatment of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy., Patients and Methods: A total of 197 patients (96 girls, 101 boys) with chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy were prospectively included. The patients were randomly assigned to either bilateral tonsillectomy (n=113; mean age 10.1 years; range 4 to 18 years) or unilateral tonsillectomy (n=84; mean age 4.5 years; range 3 to 8 years) performed with or without adenoidectomy. All the patients were followed-up for at least a year., Results: The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to preoperative symptoms, the size of tonsils, and the presence of adenoid hypertrophy. At the end of the follow-up, no significant differences were found with respect to relief of snoring, mouth breathing, and upper airways obstruction between the two groups. A greater number of patients achieved complete improvement in snoring in the bilateral tonsillectomy group (p<0.05). With unilateral tonsillectomies, three patients required tonsillectomy to the other side, two had recurrent tonsillitis, and one had severe compensatory hypertrophy with persistent difficulty in inspiration and mouth breathing., Conclusion: Unilateral tonsillectomy seems to be as effective as bilateral tonsillectomy in the treatment of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

Pilomatrixoma is a rare, benign, calcifying cutaneous tumor, originating from pluripotential precursors of hair matrix cells. It is most commonly seen in the head and neck region, occurring in the first two decades of life. It usually occurs as a single nodule with a diameter of 0.5-3 cm, localized dermally or subcutaneously. Clinical diagnosis may be difficult when it presents in a large, ulcerated form or in elderly patients. A 65-year-old female presented with a painful and progressive, cutaneous, firm-solid mass with a diameter of 6 x 4 cm in the left preauricular region. The mass was surgically excised under general anesthesia. Histopathological diagnosis of the mass was pilomatrixoma which showed basophilic cells, shadow cells, and calcifications. Postoperative result of the operation field was cosmetically and functionally acceptable.