Nontraumatic Intradiploic Epidermoid Cyst and Older Age: Association or Causality?

Intradiploic epidermoid cyst in the skull: Case report and systematic review

Intradiploic epidermoid cysts are rare, benign tumors, accounting for less than 1% of all intracranial tumors. Due to their scarcity, we are reporting a case of an intradiploic epidermoid cyst and reviewing several similar cases in the literature to provide a better description of this tumor and analyze its clinical and radiological features. We conducted a search on the PubMed database for studies published between January 2010 and February 2023, including studies of nontraumatic and noniatrogenic calvarial cysts. We found a total of 34 studies and 41 patients, with an average patient age of 42.5 years. Common symptoms included painless masses, headaches, and seizures. The occipital, frontal, and parietal regions were the most common locations for these tumors. Some patients experienced complications such as otitis media, infection, or extension into the orbit and brain. Surgical resection was performed in all cases except for 2 patients with contraindications to surgery. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of an intradiploic epidermoid cyst. These cysts are rare skull lesions and can potentially cause neurological deficits due to their mass effect. If incompletely resected, they may also undergo malignant transformation. No single institution has accumulated enough cases to describe this rare tumor accurately. Therefore, through this review, we aim to highlight this tumor's epidemiological, clinical, and radiological features.

Intraorbital Expansion of an Intradiploic Frontal Epidermoid Cyst: A Case Report and Short Review of the Literature

Patient: Male, 58-year-old

Final Diagnosis: Epidermoid cyst

Symptoms: Exophthalmos

Medication:—

Clinical Procedure: —

Specialty: Neurosurgery

What Are We Missing From Asymmetric Relationship Between the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Profiles and Sphenoid Sinus Volume?

PURPOSE/AIM OF THE STUDY

Detailed analysis of retinal structure such as the retinal nerve fiber layer can be performed by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). There are no published studies concerning a relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer and human sphenoid sinus volumes. We investigated this relationship.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Spectral-domain OCT. The peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and sphenoid sinus volume estimation of both sides of sex-matched patients were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

The mean RNFL thicknesses at the left side (91.8 μm) were significantly smaller than the right side (94.5 μm) (P = 0.040). However, the mean left sinus volume (44.5 cm) is larger than the right side, (34.5 mm) (P < 0.005). Left and right differences of both parameters are statistically significant (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

There is a negative correlation between mean RNFL thicknesses and mean sinus volumes. To our knowledge, this article is the first report demonstrating the asymmetry relationship between RNFL and sphenoid sinus volumes.

A new experimental evidence that olfactory bulb lesion may be a causative factor for substantia nigra degeneration; preliminary study

Background: Anosmia has been considered as the first diagnostic criteria of Parkinson disease (PD), we investigated the effect of the olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) on histopathological features of the substantia nigra in an animal model.Methods: Twenty-seven male rats were used in this study. Animals were divided into three groups as five (control), six SHAM and sixteen study (OBL) groups. Nothing was done in the control group, the only burr hole was done in the SHAM group, OBL was not applied, and bilateral OBL was performed in the study group, and followed ten weeks, then animals were decapitated. Olfactory bulb volumes were measured by macro anatomically. The olfactory bulbs and substantia nigra sections were analyzed by a stereological method to evaluate olfactory glomerulus and neuron density of substantia nigra per cubic centimeter and compared with statistically.Results: The mean olfactory bulb volume, degenerated olfactory glomerulus density and degenerated neuron density of substantia nigra were measured as:(4.14 ± 0.20) mm³, (1 ± 1)/mm³ and (7 ± 2)/mm³ in control (Group I); (3.6 ± 0.16)/mm³, (4 ± 1)/mm³ and(32 ± 7)/mm³ in SHAM (Group II) and (2.2 ± 0.9)/mm³, (112 ± 18)/mm³ and (1543 ± 115)/mm³in study group (Group III). Diminished olfactory bulb volume was observed in Group III animals.Conclusions: We concluded that OBL may lead to the degeneration of substantia nigra.

Controversy about the protective role of volume in the frontal sinus after severe head trauma: larger sinus equates with higher risk of death

The "crumple zone" hypothesis suggests that the paranasal sinuses protect the brain as a zone to distribute and absorb energy after trauma to the head. We investigated the relation between the size of the frontal sinus and mortality in patients with cranial trauma. All patients with head trauma admitted to the ICU between 1 January 2016 and 20 December 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. They were divided into two groups (according to their outcome) : died and survived. The volumes of the frontal sinuses and other trauma-related variables were assessed on computed tomographs (CT) on admission. Admission CT of 33 patients (24 male, and nine female, aged between 18-92 years, mean 43) were obtained. Male patients had significantly larger frontal sinuses than female (10.24 compared with 6.6cm³). Larger sinuses were significantly associated with a worse outcome (p=0.005). The size of the frontal sinus correlates with mortality after cranial trauma. Our findings do not confirm the "crumple zone" hypothesis, and suggest that the larger the sinus, the greater the risk of death. To our knowledge this is a new finding that warrants further validation.

Factors affecting complications after treatment of epidermal cyst

Background

Epidermal cysts are the most common benign epithelial tumors in humans. The curative treatment of epidermal cyst is surgical excision. However, only few studies have investigated the cause and mechanism of postoperative complications of epidermal cysts. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting complications of epidermal cyst after surgical treatment.

Methods

Patients with histologically diagnosed epidermal cysts were selected from among 98 consecutive patients with excised benign cystic tumors from March 2014 to August 2017. Sex, age, size, mobility, site of occurrence, history of infection, history of incision and drainage, complications, history of reoperation, and method of overcoming complications was obtained by analyzing medical records retrospectively.

Results

Five of the 98 patients had wound dehiscence due to surgical infection. Three of them underwent wound healing with conservative treatment without a second operation. The other two patients underwent a second operation and showed signs of preoperative infection. None of the factors showed statistical significance in relation to the occurrence of complications.

Conclusion

Postoperative complications occurred when the excision of the epidermal cyst was performed at preoperative infection sites or at sites with high tension, so attention should be paid to postoperative care.