Retropharyngeal schwannoma is rare. To the best of our knowledge, only 18 cases have been published in the English literature. Complete surgical excision is the treatment of choice for schwannomas. Transoral approaches have been applied for smaller lesions, and external cervical approaches are preferred for larger and more complex lesions. In this report, we present a case of large retropharyngeal schwannoma that was excised using an endoscopic-assisted transoral approach with palatal splitting. Postoperative functional and oncologic outcomes were satisfactory with no reported intraoperative/postoperative complications.

AIMTo access beta-endorphin levels in serum as well as seminal plasma in different infertile male groups.

METHODSBeta-endorphin was estimated in the serum and seminal plasma by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in 80 infertile men equally divided into four groups: non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), obstructive azoospermia (OA), congenital bilateral absent vas deferens (CBVAD) and asthenozoospermia. The results were compared to those of 20 normozoospermic proven fertile men.

RESULTSThere was a decrease in the mean levels of beta-endorphin in the seminal plasma of all successive infertile groups (mean +/- SD: NOA 51.30 +/- 27.37, OA 51.88 +/- 9.47, CBAVD 20.36 +/- 13.39, asthenozoospermia 49.26 +/- 12.49 pg/mL, respectively) compared to the normozoospermic fertile control (87.23 +/- 29.55 pg/mL). This relation was not present in mean serum level of beta-endorphin between four infertile groups (51.09 +/- 14.71, 49.76 +/- 12.4, 33.96 +/- 7.2, 69.1 +/- 16.57 pg/mL, respectively) and the fertile control group (49.26 +/- 31.32 pg/mL). The CBVAD group showed the lowest seminal plasma mean level of beta-endorphin. Testicular contribution of seminal beta-endorphin was estimated to be approximately 40%. Seminal beta-endorphin showed significant correlation with the sperm concentration (r = 0.699, P = 0.0188) and nonsignificant correlation with its serum level (r = 0.375, P = 0.185) or with the sperm motility percentage (r = 0.470, P = 0.899).

CONCLUSIONThe estimation of beta-endorphin alone is not conclusive to evaluate male reproduction as there are many other opiates acting at the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis.

Asthenozoospermia ; blood ; metabolism ; Azoospermia ; blood ; metabolism ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; blood ; metabolism ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Semen ; chemistry ; Vas Deferens ; abnormalities ; beta-Endorphin ; blood ; metabolism