Using Intraoperative Staining to Identify the Parathyroid Adenoma
Rosa Castillo was unaware that she had major health problems until her primary care physician, discovered high levels of calcium in routine blood work. When the hypercalcemia persisted, she referred her to an endocrinologist. About 99 percent of all cases…
A Collaborative Approach Offers Patients a Less Invasive Alternative for Surgical Excision of Pituitary Tumors
Surgery is the primary treatment for pituitary tumors and until the last decade, neurosurgeons favored the traditional microscopic sublabial transseptal approach – an incision under the lip, use of a retractor to push away nasal tissue and placement of a…
Minimally Invasive Surgery for Skull Base Cancer
Toward the end of 2010 and well into 2011, 32-year-old Kurtis White had a persistent runny nose that he assumed was caused by allergies. After trying various over-the-counter medications for nearly six months – without relief – he made an…
Facial Reanimation Surgery Brightens a Young Boy’s Future
It been a year since Matthew La Macchia was attacked by an American bulldog while playing with friends just down the street from his home. Matthew, who was eight years old at the time, suffered six wounds on the scalp…
Morphoproteomics: Driving a Shift to Personalized Care for Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma
The sudden onset of nasal congestion and loss of sense of smell are commonly associated with acute viral respiratory tract infections, but on rare occasions, these rather mundane symptoms can be signs of something much more serious. Forty-year-old Johnie E….
Outside the Box with Chronic Rhinosinusitis
Gayle Adamson has had sinus disease for virtually her entire life. She started taking allergy shots in her late teens in an effort to mitigate her symptoms, but by the time she was in her early 30s, she was constantly…
The Vargas Case: Excision of Large Benign Goiter
Seventy-one-year-old Rose Vargas was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) several years ago based on her increasing shortness of breath and diminished exercise capacity. “I had never been sick before and suddenly, I couldn’t clean my house, walk the…
The Reverend Williams Regains His Voice
The Reverend Albert Williams had been preaching at Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Houston for nearly 10 years when he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, threatening his vocation. When the malignancy recurred following radiation therapy, Rev. Williams was referred by…
Nihal Uddin’s Journey to 360-Degree Hearing
Sudden and severe unilateral hearing loss is uncommon, especially in young people. At any age, loss of hearing in one ear impairs communication, leading to feelings of isolation. It limits understanding of distant speech and of words directed at the…
Finding the Unknown Primary in Head & Neck Cancer
In mid-summer 2010, 46-year-old Houstonian Paul Wyett found a found a small lump on his neck that he thought was an ingrown hair. “It swelled up and then went away but never completely disappeared,” he says. His primary care physician…