We studied 73 repairs of cleft palate (48 cleft lip and palate and 25 isolated cleft palate) done during a 7-year period (January 1996-October 2002) by the same plastic reconstructive surgeon. Two-flap or four-flap palatoplasty techniques were used to provide tension-free, three-layer repairs for patients with cleft palate. Their ages ranged from 10-244 months (mean 27). The postoperative follow-up period ranged from 6 to 60 months (mean 21). There was a palatal fistulation rate of 7% (5/73). There were two fistulas after two-flap palatoplasty (5%, 2/39), and three fistulas after four-flap palatoplasty (9%, 3/34). The mean diameter was 7.8 mm (range 5.1 to 13). There was no significant difference between the two techniques.
The reading man procedure was found to be a useful and an easy going technique for the closure of circular skin defects located on various anatomic regions. It enables surgeon to obtain a tension-free closure of considerably large skin defects with minimal scarring and additional healthy skin excision.
Silicones are widely used materials in many fields of medicine and largely are believed to be biologically inert. However, some investigators have reported that silicone implants are associated with an increased incidence of autoimmune disorders. In this study, we evaluated the capsular tissue of silicone implants and the sera of implant patients and controls for antisilicone antibodies and nonspecific immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM, and IgE). Our study group included 15 patients (eight men and seven women) undergoing reconstructive procedures for burn scars, in whom we used silicone implants, and 15 sex-matched controls undergoing reconstructive surgery for burn scars without using silicone implants. By immunofluorescence, we discovered strong capsular binding of IgG and weak capsular binding of IgM; antisilicone antibody levels were significantly higher in capsular tissue than elsewhere. Serum IgE also was higher in patient vs control subject sera. In conclusion, silicone materials do lead to an immune response consisting of antisilicone antibodies most evident immediately adjacent to the implant itself.
Besides the 2 major advantages of short operative time and minimal blood loss, our technique provides a well-vascularized soft tissue padding over the neural tissues, and no suture line overlies the cord closure. With these advantages, this new technique seems to be a useful and safe solution for closure of large meningomyelocele defects.
A new nonmicrosurgical technique for one-stage total phallic reconstruction is presented. In this procedure, an innervated anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap including the medial half of the fascia latae is combined with a sartorius perforator flap. Both flaps are elevated together as an island chimeric flap based on the lateral circumflex femoral vessels and tunneled to the recipient area. The neourethra is created with thin and hairless skin of the sartorius perforator flap, while the ALT flap is used to construct the shaft and glans of the neophallus. The rigidity was provided with a penile prosthesis covered with a neotunica albuginea created with vascularized fascia latae for the first time in the literature. The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve of the ALT flap is coapted to the pudendal nerve to provide erogenous sensibility. Here, a 15-year-old male in whom this new procedure was used for one-stage total phallic reconstruction is presented. Two years of follow-up revealed that an esthetically acceptable and functional neopenis with a nonhairy competent urethra, erogenous sensitivity, and a proper rigidity was achieved with no complication. This new technique, namely, the "Istanbul on the thigh" flap, is a one-stage, safe, and timesaving technique which fulfills all essential goals of phallic reconstruction but does not require microsurgical equipment and expertise. Moreover, the donor scar is located at an unexposed area, easy to conceal. Although more clinical experience is needed, this new procedure seems to be a useful alternative in phallic reconstruction.
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