Annals of plastic surgery
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Annals of plastic surgery · Jun 2004
Incidence of nonlocalization of sentinel lymph nodes using preoperative lymphoscintigraphy in 74 consecutive head and neck melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma patients.
Lymphatic drainage pathways in the head and neck region are more variable than in any other location of the body. Occasionally, head and neck lymphoscintograms fail to identify a definitive lymphatic drainage pattern, making preoperative and intraoperative identification of sentinel nodes very difficult. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of nonlocalization on lymphoscintigraphy of sentinel nodes in patients with head and neck cutaneous malignancies. ⋯ In a series of 135 consecutive patients with head and neck cutaneous malignancies, 74 of whom were treated with preoperative lymphoscintograms, a nonlocalization rate of 6.8% was found. This is a significant rate of nonlocalization and reflects either the inherent difficulty in imaging the head and neck region and/or the possible rapid rate of dye washout via multiple lymphatic drainage pathways that exist in this location.
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Annals of plastic surgery · Jun 2004
Regulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase in ischemic preconditioning of muscle flap in a rat model.
Ischemic preconditioning has been shown to influence flap tolerance to prolonged ischemia. Nitric oxide (NO) synthesis is one of the proposed mechanisms involved in ischemic preconditioning. In this study, the molecular marker of NO is examined in correlation with ischemic preconditioning on improving muscle flap survival. ⋯ We conclude that ischemic preconditioning can enhance flap tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve flap viability rate. This study provides evidence that the regulation of NOS may play a role in ischemic preconditioning phenomenon and warrants further investigation.