Does the development and implementation of a procedure-specific proforma for skin lesion surgery improve quality of operation notes?

Background: Operation notes often have omissions and are difficult to locate in patients notes despite clear guidance from the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) 'Good Surgical Practice' 2014 outlining what should be included in operation notes. Procedure-specific proformas are rarely used by Plastic surgeons despite being utilised by other specialities. With an alarming rise of incidence of skin malignancies there has been an increase in the number of skin lesions referred to Plastic surgeons for excision.

Demographics, Clinical Characteristics, Management, and Outcomes of Acute Heart Failure Patients: Observations from the Oman Acute Heart Failure Registry.

Objectives: We sought to describe the demographics, clinical characteristics, management and outcomes of patients in Oman with acute heart failure (AHF) as part of the Gulf aCute heArt failuRe rEgistry (CARE) project.

Methods: Data were analyzed from 988 consecutive patients admitted with AHF to 12 hospitals in Oman between 14 February and 14 November 2012.

Results: The mean age of our patients was 63±12 years.

Reconstruction of volar skin and soft tissue defects of the digits including the pulp: experience with the free SUPBRA flap.

Background: The ideal flap for volar defects on the digits should provide glabrous skin, maintain length, be sensate and supple enough to allow unimpeded motion of the joints. When local flap options are either inadequate or unavailable, this constitutes a challenge that usually requires free tissue transfer. We describe our experience of the use of the free transfer of glabrous skin based on the superficial palmar branch of the radial artery (SUPBRA) for digital (volar) reconstruction.

Hemorrhagic cardioembolic stroke secondary to a left ventricular thrombus: a therapeutic dilemma.

Cardiogenic embolism is a major cause of stroke and often leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the recent advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of stroke and its risk factors, diagnosis and therapy; some case scenarios still present a real challenge for the treating physicians. We report a case of a 50 year old male patient presenting with multi-territory cerebral infarctions due to a left ventricular mobile thrombus complicated with hemorrhagic transformation at the time of presentation.