BACKGROUND: Thyroid malignancy, the most diagnosed cancer of the endocrine system, represents 2% of all malignancies worldwide. The increasing incidence of thyroid cancer has been linked t...

The variability of sphenoid pneumatization and its relationship with the surrounding structures has been suggested. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the surrounding bony structures on the position of the sphenoid ostium (SO). A prospective radiological review of computed tomography images of paranasal sinuses of 150 patients (300 sides) was conducted. Parameters investigated included the presence of Onodi cells, sphenoid rostrum pneumatization, and the type of sphenoid pneumatization on the coronal and sagittal planes. Their effect was studied on the vertical and horizontal plane using lines of measurement 1 through 5. The most common location of the SO on the horizontal plane was found to be in the middle third and was significantly affected by the rostrum pneumatization (P value <.001) and sphenoid pneumatization on the coronal plane (P value = .018). The location of the SO on the vertical plane was most commonly in the middle third. It was significantly affected by Onodi cell pneumatization (P value = .021) as well as the sphenoid height (P value <.001). Pneumatization of the sphenoid sinus and adjacent bony structures can affect the location of the SO. Presence of rostrum pneumatization and lateral sphenoid pneumatization shift the SO laterally. Presence of Onodi cell and low sphenoid roof shift the SO inferiorly. These variations need to be studied carefully before surgery in order to avoid operative complications.

Synovial sarcoma is a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma that rarely arises in the head and neck region. It affects the parapharyngeal space and the hypopharynx most commonly and it has different presentations based on the affected site. In extremely rare occasions, it involves the hard palate such as in our case where a 24-year-old female patient presented with a mass lesion involving the left hard palate, which was identified clinically and by imaging studies. The histopathological assessment confirmed that it was a monophasic synovial sarcoma which was also confirmed with further molecular studies. The patient underwent surgical excision and postoperative radiotherapy. Her close follow up over a 6-year period that followed her curative treatment has demonstrated no evidence of disease recurrence or distant metastasis. Surgical excision is the mainstay of treatment for synovial sarcoma and adjuvant radiotherapy is advised. Long-term follow up is recommended because of the remote possibility of late recurrence of the tumor.

BACKGROUND: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is an invaluable technique used in the evaluation of thyroid nodules. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the concordance of results for consecutive FNA readings. DESIGN: Retrospective, descriptive. SETTINGS: Two tertiary care centers. METHODS: Demographics were collected along with every FNA result and final pathology results for all patients (aged 9-90 years old) who underwent thyroid surgery from 2010 to 2017. The Bethesda system was used for cytology. Agreement levels were calculated and compared with final pathology. SAMPLE SIZE: Of 1237 initially included, 1134 had at least one FNA performed with results available for review. RESULTS: For the 1134 patients, demographic and clinical data were collection and a comparison was made between the three FNA results; the highest agreement was between FNA 2 and 3 (53.6%); however, the kappa value was consistently low for all comparisons, indicating a poor level of agreement overall. Also, the risk of malignancy was higher in this study than in the 2017 Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology in FNA cytology categories I and II. CONCLUSION: Repeating FNA biopsies yield different results every time; hence, there is a low level of agreement. The clinical decision should therefore include other important risk factors. Prospective studies could help shed more light on this topic. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective design. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.

To address the factors affecting recurrence after endoscopic surgical repairs of spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak, specifically the influence of using lumbar drains. This study involved a retrospective data analysis, including a chart review of all spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak cases who underwent endoscopic anterior skull base repair from 2012-2017 in King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thirteen patients with spontaneous CSF leaks were identified and evaluated. The majority were females (92.3%) with an average body mass index of 34.9. All patients underwent endoscopic repair with intra-operative lumbar drain placement. Patients continued having post-operative lumbar drain for an average of 6.4 days. Four patients (30.8%) developed recurrence; however, only one of those had a documented high opening pressure. Spontaneous CSF leak repairs are at a higher failure risk and may have an underlying pathology involving CSF circulation. The use of lumbar drains and intracranial pressure lowering agents are controversial and seems to be reserved only for high risk patients; however, the higher risk of recurrence in this group may be better managed by proper pre-operative evaluation and selective, patient-specific management protocols.

Background/Objectives: The parapharyngeal space is a complex anatomical region that houses critical neurovascular structures and serves as the origin of rare tumors, which account for 0.5–1% of head and neck neoplasms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful for their preoperative assessment. However, its accuracy in real-world clinical settings remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of MRI for parapharyngeal tumors at two tertiary centers. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent MRI and surgical excision at two tertiary centers in Saudi Arabia between 2018 and 2024. Two reviewers independently extracted their MRI data and compared them with the final pathological data to determine the diagnostic performance of MRI. Results: Of the 31 patients (58.1% female; median age, 37.5 years), 90.3% had benign tumors. Neurogenic (41.9%) and salivary (25.8%) tumors were most common; 61.3% were located within the pre-styloid space. The benign and malignant groups had comparable baseline characteristics. MRI demonstrated moderate overall diagnostic agreement (κ = 0.525) and near-perfect concordance for schwannomas (κ = 0.912) and paragangliomas (κ = 0.839) but poor agreement for hemangiopericytomas (κ = −0.051). It had high accuracy (90.3%), specificity (92.9%), and negative predictive value (96.3%) for detecting malignancy but limited sensitivity (66.7%) or positive predictive value (50.0%). Nonetheless, cautious interpretation is required due to the limited prevalence of malignancy in the cohort (n = 3). Conclusions: MRI demonstrated high specificity for benign parapharyngeal space lesions in routine clinical reporting within this retrospective cohort, reflecting strong radiologic–pathologic agreement. Estimates of sensitivity and positive predictive value for malignancy were influenced by the limited number of malignant cases. Accordingly, the reported diagnostic performance measures should be interpreted as descriptive and exploratory, characterizing real-world MRI performance rather than definitive diagnostic accuracy.