Alimohamad Asghari

Abstract Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder affecting quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of Quality of Life (QOL) in patients with OSA by means of World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument. This study was conducted on adult patients with sleep problems referred to Noor Sleep Lab for an overnight sleep study. Subjects were assessed for QOL using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder which can result in mood problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms as the most prevalent psychological disturbances present in different severity of OSA. We performed a cross-sectional study of 685 recently diagnosed sleep-disordered patients, over the age of 18, referred to Noor Sleep Lab from August 2008 to November 2010. The participants filled the Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Beck anxiety inventory (BAI) to assess the depression and anxiety symptoms. We collected other characteristics of subjects such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was determined by an overnight polysomnography. Mean age of the participants was 47.63 years (SD 11.73). More than half of patient had some degrees of depression and anxiety. AHI showed no significant correlation with BDI (p = 0.105, r = −0.070) or BAI (p = 0.712, r = −0.016). Obesity was not either correlated with depression or anxiety (p = 0.18, r = 0.05). Nonetheless, ESS was weakly correlated with depression (p = 0.001, r = 0.148) and anxiety scores (p = 0.006, r = 0.120). BMI and ESS means were significantly higher in patients with severe OSA (p = 0.000). In comparison with men, the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms was significantly higher in women (p = 0.000). In this cross-sectional study of patients with sleep problems, OSA was not associated with severity of depression and anxiety symptoms.

A number of investigations have already been carried out to assess the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on primary basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) lesions, but lack of investigations on recurrent lesions or lesions with treatment failure, prompted the authors to carry out this study. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of photodynamic therapy on recurrent BCC and SCC lesions on head and neck skin. A total of 30 patients, including 16 men and 14 women, were selected from patients with recurrent SCC and BCC who referred to Iran university ENT research center Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Tehran-Iran, met the criteria and entered the study. This is a longitudinal study of 30 patients with 43 histologically verified head and neck skin tumors, candidate for photodynamic therapy. To cite the results obtained in this study, it is worth mention that five cases expressed disagreement with this treatment modality after the first session of illumination; the treatment was stopped because of pain or burning. In a three-month evaluation, complete treatment response rates were obtained in 72% of patients (18 cases); in SCC cases it was 71.4% (10 cases) and in BCC it was 72.7% (eight cases). The final result of complete response rate in three years of follow up, demonstrated that 16 (64%) patients out of 25 were disease-free from recurrent BCC and SCC (Table 1). In BCC cases the final three-year response rate was seven (63.6%) and in SCC cases it was nine (64.2%). Hence, there was no statistical difference between SCC and BCC cases to treatment (P = 0.34). The obtained data from the current study is supportive of the recommended treatment method of PDT as an effective, tolerable and less invasive treatment in patients with recurrent BCC and SCC carcinomas, particularly when cosmetic effects are an important consideration. However, more research is needed to establish this.

In recent years, techniques such as computerised dynamic posturography have facilitated objective evaluation of patients with balance disorders. In this study, we used computerised dynamic posturography for clinical staging of Ménière's disease.

Meningioma is a well-recognized tumor of the central nervous system, but it rarely appears as a primary extracranial tumor of the paranasal sinuses. We report a case of a primary right anterior ethmoid meningioma that resembled a mucocele in its presentation. A primary meningioma can be differentiated from a secondary meningioma in three ways: (1) by observing an intact bony wall of the sinus on imaging or on inspection during surgery, (2) by noting the absence of a simultaneous intracranial meningioma on imaging or on inspection during surgery, and (3) by identifying a bulging of the sinus wall toward the cranium rather than in the opposite direction.

Complete agenesis of the bony labyrinth, first described by Michel, represents the most severe form of inner ear defect. A search of the literature yielded only one report of this rare anomaly, affecting two siblings. Three familial cases of bilateral inner ear aplasia are reported here, and the probable inheritance pattern of this condition is discussed.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a malignant tumor of the major and minor salivary glands. Because it grows very slowly, it is often diagnosed at a late stage. The combination of a delayed diagnosis and the tumor's propensity for early perineural and hematologic spread increases the risk of local recurrence and systemic metastasis, often many years after the primary tumor has been diagnosed and treated. Only 80 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the larynx have been previously reported in the literature. We report a new case of laryngeal subglottic adenoid cystic carcinoma in a 12-year-old boy.