Journal Reviews archive for February 2014
Autologous fat graft in scar treatment
A retrospective study was performed of 694 patients with contracted and painful scars over a six year period. A total of 376 patients had burn scars, 54 patients had scars due to road trauma, 92 patients had scars from domestic...
Sentinel node biopsy in oral cancer
Sentinel node biopsy (SLNB) is not new and is well established in the management of early breast cancer and melanoma. New trials such as the European Sentinel Node (SENT) trial and others sought to address the question of the clinical...
Allogenic submandibular gland transplantation
The authors discuss and report success with an elegant but difficult solution to a difficult problem. Dry eyes are a difficult problem and incidence increases with age. It can lead to severe reduction in the quality of life of patients....
Delayed intraoral wound healing in patients on bisphosphonates
Since Marx first described bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ), the literature is now replete with cases of BRONJ. There are no internationally accepted protocols. A three month cessation of drug treatment, a ‘drug holiday’ has been advocated. The...
Anteromedial thigh perforator free flaps
Forty-one consecutive anterior anteromedial thigh (AMT) free flaps are reported, with a success rate of 95%. This flap is being used as an alternative to the preferred anterolateral thigh flap (ALT), which is described as the ‘real workhorse’, when this...
Vascularised composite allotransplantation: an update
Vascularised composite allotransplantation (VCA) includes transplantation of multiple tissues in a single vascularised unit, such as the upper limb, or most dramatically the face. Truly remarkable results have been achieved, such as the one illustrated in this article. More than...
The cost of surgery for bedsores
Many plastic surgeons will have experienced a heart-sinking moment when receiving a request to give an opinion on a patient with a bedsore. The surgery is not technically demanding, but the postoperative care and rehabilitation of the patient can be...
Pose in imaging the breast
Inconsistency in breast imaging is remarkably frequent. Even a simple photograph can mislead, depending upon whether or not the arms are held by the sides, are raised above the head or are akimbo. However, the real gold standard in three...
Choosing anaesthesia for oral surgery
This article offers guidance in choosing the most appropriate modality of anaesthesia for oral surgery and the setting in which it is delivered. It attempts to classify the different types of anaesthesia into local anaesthesia, sedation, which it further sub...
Medical illnesses and their affects on anaesthesia for oral surgery
This is a comprehensive article, which provides a good summary of the common co-morbidities affecting patients presenting for oral surgery. It focuses on their management issues as well as precautions required when administering anaesthesia. For each illness listed the authors...
Poor glycaemic control associated with worse outcomes in primary wound closure
This study is the first to specifically investigate the effects of chronic and perioperative glycaemic control in high risk patients undergoing primary closure of wounds. Seventy-nine patients were included – 93% of closures were of the lower limb and only...
Oncological and functional outcomes of transoral robotic surgery for oropharyngeal cancer
Due to the fact that conventional surgery is technically demanding and involves significant morbidity, transoral procedures are becoming increasingly popular. In this prospective study the authors analysed the oncological and functional results of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) to find out...
