Shoulder Subluxation Pain as a Secondary Indication for Trapezius to Deltoid Transfer.

Brachial plexus injuries can be debilitating. We have observed that manual reduction of the patients' shoulder subluxation improves their pain and have used this as a second reason to perform the trapezius to deltoid muscle transfer beyond motion. The authors report a series of nine patients who all had significant improvement of pain in the shoulder girdle and a decrease in pain medication use after a trapezius to deltoid muscle transfer.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Enhance Nerve Regeneration in a Rat Sciatic Nerve Repair and Hindlimb Transplant Model.

This study investigates the efficacy of local and intravenous mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) administration to augment neuroregeneration in both a sciatic nerve cut-and-repair and rat hindlimb transplant model. Bone marrow-derived MSCs were harvested and purified from Brown-Norway (BN) rats. Sciatic nerve transections and repairs were performed in three groups of Lewis (LEW) rats: negative controls (n = 4), local MSCs (epineural) injection (n = 4), and systemic MSCs (intravenous) injection (n = 4).

Do adjunctive flap-monitoring technologies impact clinical decision making? An analysis of microsurgeon preferences and behavior by body region.

Background: Multiple perfusion assessment technologies exist to identify compromised microvascular free flaps. The effectiveness, operability, and cost of each technology vary. The authors investigated surgeon preference and clinical behavior with several perfusion assessment technologies.

A modified heterotopic swine hind limb transplant model for translational vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) research.

Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) such as hand and face transplants represent a viable treatment option for complex musculoskeletal trauma and devastating tissue loss. Despite favorable and highly encouraging early and intermediate functional outcomes, rejection of the highly immunogenic skin component of a VCA and potential adverse effects of chronic multi-drug immunosuppression continue to hamper widespread clinical application of VCA. Therefore, research in this novel field needs to focus on translational studies related to unique immunologic features of VCA and to develop novel immunomodulatory strategies for immunomodulation and tolerance induction following VCA without the need for long term immunosuppression.