Plastic and reconstructive surgery
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · Jun 2005
The efficacy of continuous local anesthetic infiltration in breast surgery: reduction mammaplasty and reconstruction.
Pain control after reduction mammaplasty and breast reconstruction with tissue expanders often requires intravenous narcotic analgesia and inpatient hospitalization. Regional and local anesthetic techniques are increasing in popularity because they decrease the use of intravenous analgesic medications and offer comparable pain relief without the systemic side effects. ⋯ The continuous infiltration of local anesthetic with an infusion pump represents another tool for pain management in surgical patients.
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Plast. Reconstr. Surg. · May 2005
Comparative StudyA biomechanical comparison of four extensor tendon repair techniques in zone IV.
This study was designed to evaluate the biomechanical parameters of four different suture techniques specifically designed for zone IV extensor tendon injuries: the double figure of eight, the double modified Kessler, the six-strand double-loop, and the modified Becker suturing techniques. Ease of repair, tendon shortening, strength to 1-mm gap, strength to 2-mm gap, ultimate strength, and mode of repair failure were evaluated. ⋯ This study shows that the modified Becker suture technique, although not easily performed, proved to be the strongest repair, with a significantly greater resistance to 1-mm and 2-mm gap and the greatest ultimate strength on maximal loading.
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Reports of a correlation between relief of migraine headaches and resection of corrugator muscles or injection of botulinum A toxin have renewed interest in finding the cause of migraine headaches and identifying the trigger sites. Four trigger sites have been described. One of these is along the course of the greater occipital nerve. Recent anatomical studies of this nerve have defined its location with respect to external landmarks, leading to new studies with gratifying results. There is a subset of patients who undergo chemodenervation or surgical release of the greater occipital nerve and note improvement or elimination of the symptoms along the greater occipital nerve course but who experience an emergence of migraine headache symptoms laterally. The authors propose the lesser occipital nerve as the source of pain in those who experience headaches laterally and involvement of the third occipital nerve in those who notice residual symptoms in the midportion of the occipital region. ⋯ This information can be used to conduct clinical trials of chemodenervation of these nerves in an attempt to eliminate migraine symptoms in the subset of patients who continue to experience residual symptoms after surgical release of the greater occipital nerve.