Bipedicled DIEAP flaps for reconstruction of limb soft tissue defects in male patients.

Background: Extensive soft tissue deficiencies involving the limbs can be difficult to reconstruct and may require more than one microsurgical flap transfer to cover the defect. This can be particularly challenging in male patients, where the sacrifice of a donor muscle could result in considerable comorbidity. This paper describes the use of the bipedicled deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEAP) flap to perform a one-stage reconstruction of extensive soft tissue defects in male patients.

DIEAP flap for safe definitive autologous breast reconstruction.

Background: Breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer in women affecting almost a quarter of a million patients in the US annually. 30 percent of these patients and patients with genetic mutations undergo removal of the breast, as highlighted in a high profile celebrity patient. Although breast reconstruction with free microvascular transfer of a DIEAP flap from the abdomen is an ideal form of reconstruction, there have been misgivings about the complexity and potential complications.

Multicentre evaluation of a new point-of-care test for the determination of NT-proBNP in whole blood.

Background: The Roche CARDIAC proBNP point-of-care (POC) test is the first test intended for the quantitative determination of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in whole blood as an aid in the diagnosis of suspected congestive heart failure, in the monitoring of patients with compensated left-ventricular dysfunction and in the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Methods: A multicentre evaluation was carried out to assess the analytical performance of the POC NT-proBNP test at seven different sites.

Results: The majority of all coefficients of variation (CVs) obtained for within-series imprecision using native blood samples was below 10% for both 52 samples measured ten times and for 674 samples measured in duplicate.