Maria‐Benedicte Franzmann

Objective. There is increasing focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of the present study was to conduct a long-term clinical follow-up of patients with biopsy-confirmed fatty liver without inflammation or significant fibrosis (pure fatty liver), to analyse for potential risk factors at the time of index liver biopsy important for survival and the development of cirrhosis and to describe the causes of death. Material and methods. Patients were linked through their personal identification number to the Danish National Registry of Patients and the Register of Causes of Death. All admissions, discharge diagnoses and causes of death during follow-up were collected. All surviving patients were invited to a clinical follow-up. Results. The follow-up period was 20.4 and 21.0 years, respectively, for the NAFLD and alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD) groups. Two NAFLD patients (1.2%) developed cirrhosis during the follow-up period versus 54 (22%) AFLD patients. Sixty-four percent of 178 surviving patients out of an original cohort of 417 patients attended the clinical follow-up. In NAFLD patients, none of the risk factors studied was significant in relation to the risk of death. Patients with AFLD died primarily from cirrhosis and other alcohol-related disorders, whereas in patients with NAFLD the main causes of death were cardiovascular disease and cancer. Conclusions. For patients with pure non-alcoholic fatty liver, survival was good and independent of the histological, clinical and biochemical characteristics at the time of biopsy; the main causes of death were cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The present epidemiological and clinical study comprises 82 patients with sinonasal papillomas diagnosed from 1975 to 1993. Histology showed 58 cases of inverted papillomas including 5 cases of associated carcinoma, 19 cases of exophytic papilloma, and 5 cases of columnar cell papilloma. The incidence of sinonasal papillomas in Copenhagen County was 0.74 per 100,000 inhabitants per year. The inverted and columnar cell papillomas were typically located in the middle meatus with a varying degree of involvement of the adjacent sinuses. The exophytic papillomas were predominantly located multicentrically on the nasal septum. Good results of treatment, especially with regard to inverted papillomas, were not correlated to the aggressiveness of surgery. A lateral rhinotomy with medial maxillectomy was performed as primary surgery in 28 patients. In 50% of these patients there were recurrences. The preliminary results of endonasal endoscopic surgery revealed a high success rate, i.e., no recurrences in 5 cases so far. The septal papillomas were typically resected by a simple endonasal procedure. There were recurrences in 66% of these cases. The midfacial degloving procedure may be advocated instead of or as a supplement to the lateral rhinotomy if the tumor cannot be visualized sufficiently by endoscopy. Smoking may dispose to sinonasal papillomas.

To determine the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the etiology of sinonasal papillomas, 57 inverted papillomas including 5 cases associated with carcinomas, 16 exophytic papillomas, and 5 cases of columnar cell papillomas were examined for the presence of HPV DNA by in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The genetic studies were performed on the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material. In only 6% of the 52 benign inverted papillomas was HPV DNA identified, whereas 69% of the exophytic papillomas were infected by HPV DNA. In none of the 5 cases with columnar cell papillomas could HPV be demonstrated. HPV 6/11 was identified in all of these HPV-positive cases. In the carcinoma area, HPV was detected in 2 (1 HPV 6/11 and 1 HPV 18) of the 5 inverted papillomas associated with carcinomas. The findings confirm the presence of HPV DNA in sinonasal papillomas. The results also indicate that HPV 6/11 may be involved in the pathogenesis of, solely, exophytic papillomas. We found that in situ hybridization and PCR seem equally sensitive in detecting HPV in sinonasal papillomas.

OBJECTIVES: To determine a putative role and relation between human papilloma virus (HPV) and p53 in the etiology of sinonasal carcinomas associated with papillomas. STUDY DESIGN: The study group consists of all patients with sinonasal carcinomas associated with papillomas diagnosed in Denmark from 1980 to 1998. After reviewing our national pathological files, tumor tissues from 36 patients were collected, comprising 15% of the total cases of sinonasal carcinomas. In 35 cases a squamous cell carcinoma was demonstrated and in one case an adenocarcinoma was evident. Inverted papilloma was associated with carcinoma in 31 cases and exophytic papillomas in 5 cases. The material was investigated for HPV using polymerase chain reaction analyses with two sets of consensus primers (GP5+/GP6+ and MY09/MY11). The HPV-positive cases were submitted to dot-blot hybridization to establish the HPV type. Using immunohistochemistry, the p53 expression was determined. A p53 overexpression is defined as positive staining in 10% or more of the tumor cells. RESULTS: Among 30 examined cases of carcinomas associated with inverted papillomas, 4 cases were HPV-positive (13%). P53 overexpression was not shown among the HPV-positive cases, whereas p53 overexpression was seen in 21 of the 24 (88%) examined HPV-negative cases. Among the 5 carcinomas associated with exophytic papillomas, HPV was demonstrated together with p53 overexpression in 3 cases (60%). In addition, one case more was with p53 overexpression. CONCLUSION: An inverse relation between HPV and p53 overexpression in sinonasal carcinomas associated with inverted papillomas appears to have been demonstrated. HPV and p53 might also have an etiological role among the carcinomas associated with exophytic papillomas.