The Journal of craniofacial surgery
-
In December of 2019, a novel virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) produced a cluster of viral pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. In the United States (US), New York City was particularly devastated, with the volume and acuity of patients placing an unprecedented strain on the hospital system and health care workers. ⋯ Comfort's mission to New York City was dynamic, and required special adaptation to care for both COVID positive and COVID negative patients. Neuroplastic surgery procedures were indicated in both COVID positive and COVID negative patients, and lessons learned with regard to performance of complex surgery in an unfamiliar environment consisted of developing a thorough understanding of ones capabilities, and working with a highly skilled team of Navy surgeons, anesthesiologists, and surgical support staff, in order to provide high quality care in a deployment platform.
-
The current outbreak of the highly contagious, animal origin SARS-CoV-2 virus causes the disease COVID-19. The disease is globally pandemic and as per World Health Organization (WHO) has spread to 235 countries. There is global lockdown for containment of the virus transmission. ⋯ WHO recommends nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swab for the quantitative assessment of SARS-CoV-2 RNA level through real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). The virus is shown to be consistently present in saliva and rRTPCR of saliva specimens and have advantages over NP and OP swabs such as self-collection of saliva, avoidance of healthcare workers for specimen collection, cost-effectiveness, etc. This article explores the current literature and suggests saliva as an emerging potential diagnostic specimen for COVID-19 testing.
-
The type of the armed conflict on the Syrian battle field acquired several types of injuries; including injuries that were caused by explosive, shrapnel and blast injuries. In the current study, the authors conducted an overview of maxillofacial patients, who mainly suffered from ballistic injuries in term of injuries, reconstruction, and management. Overall, 53 maxillofacial Syrian patients were treated. ⋯ On the other hand, older patients suffered mainly from depression, stress, and fear of returning to their home land. To conclude, the Syrian civil war has several characteristics that defer from other combats. Thus, the management of Syrian patients has to be tailored accordingly.
-
In gunshot injury (GSI), the distance, ballistic properties, and the site of injury of lead or scattering gain importance. The authors investigated alternative methods to local flap applications in large tissue losses on facial regions caused by GSI in the Syrian War at the light of our approaches and outcomes. ⋯ The fasciocutaneous transposition flap, interpolation flap, and forehead rotation flap that The authors apply to these patients are extremely rare flaps today. These flap applications have achieved tremendous outcomes, even without any sign of necrosis in war surgery.
-
Perforating and cutting injuries to the head and neck due to shrapnels are largely life-threatening and require immediate medical attention. In the present article, the surgical conditions in the war-related head and neck injuries were presented in terms of war surgery with mortality rates. ⋯ The most important cause of mortality was not the destruction, tissue loss caused by shrapnel injury, or experience of the surgeon, but the severe states of sepsis or multiple different trauma when brought for treatment from long range from the war zone.