Annals of plastic surgery
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Annals of plastic surgery · Dec 2014
Pudendal nerve 3-dimensional illustration gives insight into surgical approaches.
The pudendal nerve is located topographically in areas in which plastic surgeon reconstruct the penis, the vagina, the perineum, and the rectum. This nerve is at risk for either compression or direct injury with neuroma formation from obstetrical, urogynecologic, and rectal surgery as well as pelvic fracture and blunt trauma. The purpose of this study was to create a 3-dimensional representation based on magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis supplemented with new anatomic dissections in men and women to delineate the location of the pudendal nerve and its branches, providing educational information both for surgical intervention and patient education. The results of this study demonstrated that most often there are at least 2, not 1, "pudendal nerves trunks" as they leave the pelvis to transverse the sacrotuberous ligament, and that there are most often 2, not 1, exit(s) from Alcock canal, one for the dorsal branch and one for the perineal branch of the pudendal nerve.
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Annals of plastic surgery · Nov 2014
Comparative StudyMinced nerve tissue in vein grafts used as conduits in rat tibial nerves.
Peripheral nerve injuries are encountered frequently in clinical practice. In nerve repair, an end-to-end suture is the preferable choice of treatment. However, where primary closure is not possible, the defect is to be repaired with a nerve graft. ⋯ We can conclude that using minced nerve tissue in vein grafts as a conduit increases the regeneration of nerves (almost like the nerve graft group) and it may not be caused by donor-site morbidity. It can be used in the repair of nerve defects instead of autogenous nerve grafts after further experimental evidence and clinical trials.
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Annals of plastic surgery · Nov 2014
ReviewClinical application of cultured epithelial autografts on acellular dermal matrices in the treatment of extended burn injuries.
Achieving permanent replacement of skin in extensive full-thickness and deep partial-thickness burn injuries and chronic wounds remains one of the fundamental surgical problems. Presently, split-thickness skin grafts are still considered the best material for surgical repair of an excised burn wound. However, in burns that affect greater than 50% of total body surface area, the patient has insufficient areas of unaffected skin from which split-thickness skin grafts can be harvested. ⋯ The current evidence regarding the cultured epithelial cell or keratinocyte autograft and dermal grafts applied in the treatment of burn injuries was investigated with an extensive electronic and manual search (MEDLINE and EMBASE). The included literature (N=136 publications) was critically evaluated focusing on the efficacy and safety of this technique in improving the healing of the deep dermal and full-thickness burn injuries. This review concluded that the use of ADM with CEAs is becoming increasingly routine, particularly as a life-saving tool after acute thermal trauma.
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Annals of plastic surgery · Nov 2014
Antimicrobial effect of continuous lidocaine infusion in a Staphylococcus aureus-induced wound infection in a mouse model.
Continuous infusion of local anesthetics in surgical wounds has been shown to be an effective technique for postoperative analgesia. To investigate the potential antimicrobial effect of continuous local anesthetic infusion, we adapted a mouse model of surgical wound infection to examine effects on antibacterial response. Forty male BALB/c mice were randomized into 2 groups. ⋯ Each wound was cultured postoperatively at 2 days, and the colony count of S. aureus was determined. Results showed that the number of colony-forming units of S. aureus measured in wounds treated with lidocaine displayed a nearly 10-fold reduction compared to the wounds in the saline group (P=0.009). The demonstrated antibacterial activity indicates that local anesthetic infusion may play a role in prophylaxis for surgical wound infections.
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Vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) has experienced a growing acceptance, which has led to a debate centered on extending the indications of the procedure to include pediatric patients. The aim of this article was to discuss such indications based on the evidence in pediatric solid organ transplantation, reconstructive surgery in children, and VCA in adult patients. ⋯ Considering the non-life-threatening nature of the conditions that lead to eligibility for VCA, it is suggested that it is premature to extend the indications of VCA to include pediatric patients under the currently available immunosuppressive protocols.