A preoperative abdominal wall study was conducted using a multidetector scanner in 162 women who had undergone breast reconstruction with abdominal perforator flaps. A map of the abdominal perforator vessels dependent on the deep inferior epigastric artery was created. In the first 36 cases, anatomic dissection of all perforators was performed during surgery. The outcome was then compared with the radiologic findings. In the following 126 cases, the perforator vessel chosen preoperatively by the multidetector scanner was located and dissected directly. In the first 36 cases, an absolute correlation was observed between the radiologic information and intraoperative findings. In the following 126 cases, surgery time and the rate of postoperative complications decreased significantly. The multidetector scanner provides valuable preoperative information enabling identification of the most suitable perforator in view of its caliber, location, course, and anatomic relationships. Once located, we can proceed directly to its dissection during surgery, making it a faster and safer technique.

The Campanian rudist fauna identified from the localities Playa Panamá, Santa Rosa National Park, Colorado de Abangares, and Bolsón in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, is composed of the antillocaprinidsAntillocaprinasp. aff.A. suboccidentalisChubb, 1967,Antillocaprinasp. and Antillocaprinidae indet.; the multiple-fold hippuritidsBarrettia moniliferaWoodward, 1862,Parastroma trechmanniChubb, 1967, and cf.Whitfieldiella gigas(Chubb, 1955); the plagioptychidsPlagioptychus trechmanniChubb, 1956,Plagioptychussp. cf.P. zansiChubb, 1956,Mitrocaprina costaricaensisnew species,Mitrocaprina multicanaliculataChubb, 1956, and Plagioptychidae indet.; and the radiolitidsRadiolitessp. aff.R. multicostata(Adkins, 1930),Alencasteritesnew genusmooretownensis(Trechmann, 1924),Bournonia?tetrahedron(Chubb, 1967),Chiapasellasp.,Guanacastea costaricaensisnew genus new species, cf.Potositessp. aff.P. tristantorresiAlencáster and Pons in Pons et al., 2010, and aff.Thyrastylonsp. Although some differences in rudist diversity and sedimentary setting were observed among localities, most species indicate the same age for all occurrences, which correspond to the Campanian, probably mid-Campanian. Radiolitid specimens appear better preserved than those of other taxa and are thus discussed more in detail. Both the number of radiolitid genera exclusively known from the New World, and reasonable doubts about the correct attribution of some New World species to Old World genera, indicate important differences between rudist faunas at both sides of the Atlantic (Mediterranean and American Tethys, respectively) during the Late Cretaceous.

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A Maastrichtian rudist fauna composed of the radiolitids Biradiolites aguilerae Böse, B. Cárdenasensis Böse, Huasteca ojanchalensis (Myers), Tampsia floriformis Myers, and Trechmannites rudissimus (Trechmann), the hippuritids Caribbea muellerriedi (Vermunt) and Praebarrettia sparcilirata (Whitfield) sensu lato, and the plagioptychids Coralliochama gbohemi Böse and Mitrocaprina tschoppi (Palmer) is described from the Cárdenas Formation in San Luis Potosí State, Mexico. Abundant fossil material and excellent preservation of a number of specimens allowed observation of both the internal and external shell characters and their ontogenetic and eco-phenotypic variability. The description of some hitherto insufficiently known species has been enhanced and/or completed, making easier their subsequent identification and allowing their unequivocal generic assignation. Two new genera, Huasteca and Trechmannites, are proposed for two already known species of radiolitids. The Cárdenas Formation exhibits a continuously exposed sequence in the vicinity of Cárdenas. Thus, precise stratigraphic location of all fossil localities and their rudist associations, ranging from the early to the early late Maastrichtian, has been possible.

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