Successful treatment of complex traumatic and surgical wounds with a foetal bovine dermal matrix.

A foetal bovine dermal repair scaffold (PriMatrix, TEI Biosciences) was used to treat complex surgical or traumatic wounds where the clinical need was to avoid skin flaps and to build new tissue in the wound that could be reepithelialised from the wound margins or closed with a subsequent application of a split-thickness skin graft (STSG). Forty-three consecutive cases were reviewed having an average size of 79·3 cm(2) , 50% of which had exposed tendon and/or bone. In a subset of wounds (44·7%), the implantation of the foetal dermal collagen scaffold was also augmented with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT).

Total mediastinal traverse with isolated internal mammary artery transection.

Transmediastinal gunshot wounds are infrequent but life-threatening injuries. The course of the projectile and the bullet track often is unpredictable. Prompt and specific diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are necessary to quickly identify and repair potentially life-threatening injuries to the heart, great vessels, and the aerodigestive tract.

Duodenal varices: a novel treatment and literature review.

Hemorrhage associated with duodenal varices is an uncommon but often fatal manifestation of portal hypertension. We report a case of duodenal varices, review the literature, and present a new treatment modality. A 63-year-old man presented with hematemesis and hematochezia.