Excluding Antibiotics in the Management of Nonoperative Orbital and Zygomatic Fractures.

Introduction: Indications for prophylactic antibiotic therapy in nonoperative, closed fractures of the orbit and zygoma remain controversial and are based on anecdotal data. The purpose of this study was to report the incidence of infectious sequelae among patients who presented to our institution with stated fractures and who were not administered prophylactic antibiotic therapy. The authors hypothesized that an increase in infectious complications would not be seen in these patients.

Enhanced Recovery Pathway in Microvascular Autologous Tissue-Based Breast Reconstruction: Should It Become the Standard of Care?

Background: Enhanced recovery pathway programs have demonstrated improved perioperative care and shorter length of hospital stay in several surgical disciplines. The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of patients undergoing autologous tissue-based breast reconstruction before and after the implementation of an enhanced recovery pathway program.

Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients who underwent autologous tissue-based breast reconstruction performed by two surgeons before and after the implementation of the enhanced recovery pathway at a university center over a 3-year period.

Incidence and Preoperative Risk Factors for Major Complications in Aesthetic Rhinoplasty: Analysis of 4978 Patients.

Background: Rhinoplasty remains one of the most common aesthetic procedures performed in the United States. Current literature on rhinoplasty complications is inconclusive and is based on retrospective reviews and small cohorts.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and identify predictive risk factors for major complications following rhinoplasty alone or in combination with other aesthetic operations in a large, prospective, multicenter database study.

Cosmetic Liposuction: Preoperative Risk Factors, Major Complication Rates, and Safety of Combined Procedures.

Background: Liposuction is among the most commonly performed aesthetic procedures, and is being performed increasingly as an adjunct to other procedures.

Objectives: To report the incidence and risk factors of significant complications after liposuction, and to determine whether adding liposuction to other cosmetic surgical procedures impacts the complication risk.

Methods: A prospective cohort of patients who underwent liposuction between 2008 and 2013 was identified from the CosmetAssure database.

The Optimal Timing for Primary Cranial Vault Reconstruction in Nonsyndromic Craniosynostosis.

There is a lack of consensus on the optimal timing for primary cranial vault reconstruction in cranial synostosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of age at primary reconstruction on the need for revision surgery in nonsyndromic craniosynostosis. A retrospective review was conducted on all children undergoing cranial vault reconstruction for nonsyndromic craniosynostosis during a 10-year period.

Endogenous cell therapy improves bone healing.

Background: Although bone repair is often a relatively rapid and efficient process, many bone defects do not heal. Because an adequate blood supply is essential for new bone formation, we hypothesized that augmenting new blood vessel formation by increasing the number of circulating vasculogenic progenitor cells (PCs) with AMD3100 and enhancing their trafficking to the site of injury with recombinant human parathyroid hormone (rhPTH) will improve healing.

Methods: Critical-sized 3-mm cranial defects were trephined into the right parietal bone of C57BLKS/J 6 mice (N = 120).

Improving Wound Healing with Topical Gene Therapy.

Background: Impaired wound healing remains a major clinical problem with many etiologies. Altering gene expression to enhance healing is an innovative therapeutic approach. In recent years, we have developed a means to topically silence genes at the post-transcriptional level to locally alter wounds and improve the healing process.

Nonoperative management of symptomatic urachal anomalies.

Introduction: Symptomatic urachal anomalies are rare disorders that consist of urachal remnants or fistulas with or without an associated cyst. Traditionally, when a urachal anomaly was recognized, operative excision was performed. There has been a shift toward the nonoperative management of urachal anomalies at many centers, although there is little in the literature to support this practice.

Induction and patterning of the Purkinje fibre network.

Impulse-conducting Purkinje cells differentiate from myocytes during embryogenesis. In the embryonic chicken heart, this conversion of contractile myocytes into conduction cells occurs subendocardially and periarterially. The unique sites of Purkinje fibre differentiation suggest that a shear stress-induced paracrine signal from the endocardium and arterial beds may induce adjacent myocytes to differentiate into conduction cells.

Competency of embryonic cardiomyocytes to undergo Purkinje fiber differentiation is regulated by endothelin receptor expression.

Purkinje fibers of the cardiac conduction system differentiate from heart muscle cells during embryogenesis. In the avian heart, Purkinje fiber differentiation takes place along the endocardium and coronary arteries. To date, only the vascular cytokine endothelin (ET) has been demonstrated to induce embryonic cardiomyocytes to differentiate into Purkinje fibers.