New resorbable plate and screw system in pediatric craniofacial surgery.

Early forms of resorbable fixation induced foreign body reactions requiring surgical removal of the fixation material. Most current plating systems attempt to circumvent this phenomenon by altering the composition of the α esters involved. ResorbX (KLS Martin, Jacksonville, FL), a plating system derived from 50:50 poly(D,L)lactide, boasts short resorption times, minimal foreign body reaction, and adequate strength for bony fixation.

Clinical experience with a fourth-generation textured silicone gel breast implant: a review of 1012 Mentor MemoryGel breast implants.

Background: Since the introduction of fourth- and fifth-generation silicone gel implants, manufacturers have conducted several prospective, multicenter trials to examine their safety and efficacy. However, these studies were not standardized with regard to surgeon skill, pocket placement, operative technique, adjunct therapies, or postoperative management.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the surgical outcomes of a single surgeon (WGS) in a consecutive series of breast augmentation cases using a fourth-generation cohesive silicone MemoryGel breast implant (Mentor, Santa Barbara, CA).

Outpatient reduction mammaplasty: an eleven-year experience.

Background: In the last 15 years, reduction mammaplasty has been increasingly performed on an outpatient basis. Despite this evolution, few outcome studies have been published regarding outpatient breast reduction surgery.

Objective: The authors documented clinical outcomes of reduction mammaplasty performed in an outpatient setting over an 11-year period and compared these results with published normative values in the plastic surgery literature.

Management of vasospastic disorders with botulinum toxin A.

Background: Surgical digital artery sympathectomy is indicated when medical management has failed to control rest pain, impending infarction of digits, or healing of ischemic ulcerations caused by profound vasospasm that is associated with other systemic diseases. After digital artery sympathectomy, recurrence or persistence of vasospasm may compromise hand function and ultimately result in amputation of all or portions of both lower and upper extremities.

Methods: The authors present a case series of 11 patients with vasospasm producing intractable rest pain, digital ulcerations, and digit infarctions that failed aggressive medical therapy and that were then treated by perivascular injections of botulinum toxin A (Botox).

Treatment modalities for mandibular angle fractures.

Purpose: Management of mandibular angle fractures is often challenging and results in the highest complication rate among fractures of the mandible. Optimal treatment for angle fractures remains controversial. Historically, treatment of mandible fractures included intraoperative maxillomandibular fixation (MMF) along with rigid internal fixation.

Analysis of breast reduction complications derived from the BRAVO study.

Background: Analysis of complication data derived from the Breast Reduction Assessment: Value and Outcomes (BRAVO) study, a 9-month prospective, multicenter trial, is presented.

Methods: Data derived from 179 patients were analyzed, including bivariate associations between complications and single predictor variables (Fisher's exact test or chi-square testing) or continuous variables (two-sample t test) and, finally, logistic regression.

Results: The overall complication rate was 43 percent (77 patients).

Multifactorial refractory heterotopic ossification.

Ectopic bone formation or "heterotopic ossification" can follow surgery, trauma, or neurologic injury, but the process is usually self-limited, localized to the site of injury, and responds to surgical treatment when necessary. Aggressive, systemic forms of heterotopic ossification exist that generate lesions that often resist surgical treatment and produce a high rate of recurrence. These entities typically manifest during infancy as genetic syndromes such as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva or progressive osseous heteroplasia.

Temporal dermoids: three cases and a modified treatment algorithm.

Congenital orbitofacial dermoids can be segregated into frontotemporal, orbital, and nasoglabellar regions. Although 10% to 45% of nasoglabellar dermoids present with sinus tracts and occasional intracranial extension, it is rare for frontotemporal dermoids to do so. Frontotemporal dermoids typically manifest as superficial, slow-growing masses that are treated by simple excision.

Incorporation of titanium mesh in orbital and midface reconstruction.

Several authors have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of titanium in orbital reconstruction. One question posed by clinicians is what happens to large pieces of titanium in communication with the paranasal sinuses or nasal-oral-pharyngeal area. This question becomes increasingly relevant as titanium is used to reconstruct extensive defects for which the destruction of bony architecture requires the placement of mesh in proximity to these areas.

Safety of titanium mesh for orbital reconstruction.

During the past several decades, the standard of care for orbital reconstruction after trauma has been autogenous bone grafts. Complications of bone grafts, including donor site morbidities such as scar alopecia and graft resorption with delayed enophthalmos, have inspired an interest in the use of alloplastic substitutes such as titanium. Titanium's role in orbital reconstruction was limited originally to small orbital defects, and as an adjunct to bone grafts.