[Advances in the diagnosis of ENT tumors in childhood]

In the present study we review ENT tumor pathology in childhood. Only the most salient aspects are emphasized and the variety of entities reviewed was restricted. Molecular biology techniques reveal infection by human papilloma virus (types 6 and 11) in 50 % of papillomas, while immunohistochemical techniques are less effective in papilloma virus detection. The myofibroblastic nature of nasal angiofibroma has been demonstrated and its incidence is 25 times more frequent in patients with familial polyposis of the colon. Overexpression of p53 occurs in the initial stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, while overexpression of c-myc is correlated with an unfavorable prognosis. Recently, olfactory neuroblastoma has been shown not to express the protein product of the MIC-2 gene (antibody 12E7), thus the hypothesis that it could be a member of the Ewing tumor family (neuroectodermal peripheral tumors) has not been confirmed, although it is a primitive neural tumor. The head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma with the best prognosis is that located in the orbit, and cytogenetic studies have shown chromosomic translocation t(2;13) in 50 % of these childhood tumors when they are of the alveolar-type, while trisomy of chromosome 2 or 20 is more characteristic of the embryonic-type. Currently, any classifying features of ENT lymphomas must be based on the Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms (REAL). Papillary and medullary carcinomas are the most common histological types of thyroid carcinoma in childhood. Alterations in ret/PTC play a significant role in the pathogenesis of both.