Akira Tamada

Olfactory neuroblastoma: Presentation of a case and review of the japanese literature†

Olfactory neuroblastoma is an uncommon malignant tumor arising from the nasal cavity. During the past 18 years from 1964 to 1982, only 24 cases have been in Japanese literature, including this case. The average age of these patients is 42.3 years, ranging from 4 to 75 years old. The sex ratio of male to female is 10:14, female being prevalent moderately. The peak distribution is from 30 to 40 years old. The majority of the patients died of distant metastasis within 2 years of diagnosis. Therefore, the overall prognosis in Japan is very poor, as compared with about a 50% 5 year survival rate in the western countries. This is probably because this tumor is difficult to diagnose correctly, and the chance to start treatment early is apt to be missed here, though some tumors behaved very aggressively from the beginning, metastasizing early.

Dissociation of the eyes in saccadic movement.

In horizontal saccades, abduction and adduction are not conjugate. Abduction starts shortly before adduction and reaches the turning point shortly after abduction. The duration in binocular recording is much shorter than in monocular recordings. The abducting eye has a tendency to move gradually on the new target. The adducting eye has, on the contrary, a tendency to overshoot. The characteristics of quick phases of horizontal optokinetic nystagmus, in which both eyes jump disconjugately to the new target, are similar to those of horizontal saccades. The main cause of this disparity may be a difference in neural mechanisms between abduction and adduction. Vertical saccades are not disconjugate.

Observations on immunologic parameters in laryngeal cancer patients

SummaryPatients with laryngeal cancer were examined immunologically before treatment and for 1–10 years after treatment. In the pretreatment group, the percentage of T cells, lymphocyte blastoid reaction (PHA, concanavalin A), and skin reactions (PHA) were generally in the normal range, but absolute numbers of T cells and lymphocytes were reduced in most patients. In the group with no recurrence after surgery, the absolute number of T cells and lymphocytes, IgG · FcR+T cells (Tγ), and skin reactions was normal in many cases. The group with recurrence showed reduced percentage of T cells and an absolute number of T cells and lymphocytes. The absolute number of T cells and lymphocytes and the PPD skin reaction increased after surgery in some cases, but reductions in some of the parameters were noted in a few cases long after surgery. Radiation therapy for patients with tumors at early stages did not significantly change the percentage of T cells or the skin reactions.

Radiation-induced fibrosarcoma of the thyroid.

A rare thyroid tumour is described. It started as a papillary cytoadenoma 20 years ago, followed by the appearance of a papillary adenocarcinoma 6 years later. At that time most of the tumour was excised, except for a small portion which had invaded the trachea. Post-operatively 6,000 rads of Co60 was given to the neck; the tumour remained quiescent for 18 years until two years ago, when a recurring fibrosarcoma appeared in her neck. It is suggested that this tumour was a radiation-induced sarcoma.

Modulation of the visuo-ocular reflex by the vestibulo-ocular reflex in peripheral vision.

Peripheral OKN was produced by stimulating the visual field with a special device, designed by Miyoshi et al. Stimuli to induce peripheral OKN and rotatory nystagmus (RN) were applied to the same subject simultaneously. The results obtained were as follows. 1) In the case of the whole visual field, with a target velocity of 30 degrees/sec the combined slow-phase velocity of OKN and RN was also a constant 30 degrees/s in any phase of rotation of the subject and with any combinations of the rotationary directions of subject and target. 2) In the case of the peripheral visual field; when both OKN and RN were in the same direction, the slow-phase velocity of the combined OKN was 10-20% greater than that of the peripheral OKN alone. However, the combined OKN never exceeded the velocity of the target. In contrast, when OKN and RN directions were opposed, combined OKN was correspondingly decreased by about the same 10-20% amount.