Description and implementation of an ex vivo simulator kit for developing microsurgery skills.

Background: Microsurgical training is an essential part of the plastic surgery training curriculum. Given the emphasis on safety and standardization in surgical training, use of simulators is key. We used a novel microsurgical skills training set to inexpensively, safely, and reproducibly teach and perfect microsurgical skills.

Gluteal lift with subfascial implants.

Background: Gluteal enhancement surgery includes buttock implants, gluteal flaps, lipografting, and gluteal lifts. However, no information is available on the outcomes achievable using the gluteal lift combined with subfascial gluteal implants.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed to analyze the outcomes of gluteal lift combined with subfascial gluteal implants performed during a 7-year period by a single surgeon at a single institution.

Ultrasonically assisted face-lift.

Background: The face-lift procedure is one of the most skillful interventions performed by plastic surgeons. Ultrasonic energy is used to elevate the facial skin flap, which allows for preservation of vascular, lymphatic, and nervous structures, thereby decreasing the morbidity associated with this procedure.

Methods: A retrospective study to compare the outcomes of ultrasound and non-ultrasound-assisted face-lifts is reported.

The survival curve: factors impacting the outcome of free flap take-backs.

Background: When vascular compromise is detected, a free flap is immediately taken back to the operating room for attempted salvage. Which factors predict the success or failure of a take-back is currently unknown.

Methods: A review of free flaps performed at a single institution over the last 10 years was performed.

Intranasal surgical approach for malar alloplastic augmentation.

Background: Alloplastic malar augmentation is becoming an increasingly common procedure for enhancement of the midface and an adjunct method of improving the effects of other rejuvenation procedures.

Objectives: The authors present a new surgical approach for placement of malar implants by means of an intranasal incision, which they believe has several advantages over traditional techniques. They also propose a new classification for regions of the midface to assist in augmentation planning.

Back to the future: a 15-year experience with polyurethane foam-covered breast implants using the partial-subfascial technique.

Background: Implants with a polyurethane foam cover have been used by plastic surgeons since Ashley described them in 1970. Overwhelming evidence confirms the benefits of these implants, especially the extremely low incidence of capsular contracture (grades 3 and 4, Baker classification). On the other hand, except for a transient and self-limited rash, there is no evidence that polyurethane implants present more complications than texturized or smooth gel implants.

Calf implants: a 25-year experience and an anatomical review.

Background: Body contouring in the calf region is becoming a more frequently requested procedure. There are several techniques for calf enhancement, including implants, liposuction, and free flaps. Alloplastic augmentation can be performed with several implant types and several layers of pocket dissection.

Prophylactic mastectomy: is it worth it?

Background: Breast cancer is the second mortality-related cancer and the leading cause of general mortality in women aged 40-55. Prophylactic mastectomy has proved to be effective in several clinical scenarios but is still a somewhat controversial procedure.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study by reviewing the records of all patients who underwent prophylactic mastectomy in a 25-year period.

Treatment protocol for "Mestizo nose" with open rhinoplasty.

Background: The aim of this study was to develop an operative sequence to guide plastic surgeons on how to handle the challenges of "Mestizo nose" during rhinoplasty. This type of nose has characteristics quite different from the Caucasian nose. Rhinoplasties on Mestizo nose represent a surgical challenge because of the anatomical characteristics of a weak frame and thick skin.

[Penile calciphylaxis: case report and literature review].

Background: Calciphylaxis is a serious condition characterized by ischemic ulceration of the skin and necrosis secondary to dystrophic calcification of the subcutaneous tissue and small arteries. It affects primarily patients with end-stage renal disease with prevalence up to 4%. However, penile calciphylaxis has been reported in only 37 cases in the international literature.

[Distinguished doctors of the University of Padua and their works: 16th to 18th centuries].

Italian universities have been distinguished since their beginnings, within different specialties. One of them, if not the most important, is the teaching of medicine. One of the leaders is the University of Padua, founded in 1222, establishing itself as the second most important institution after the University of Bologna.

[Foundation and organization of the University of Bologna from the XII century to the Renaissance].

The University of Bologna was founded in 1150 and was the first European University to establish this educational trend. The combination of structured teaching and student associations marked the origin of the studium generale. The presence of teaching legists encouraged teachers in others fields to come to Bologna.

[Tagliacozzi: not just a plastic surgeon].

Gaspare Tagliacozzi is known because of his great contributions to plastic surgery. He is considered a pioneer in the field, which has had more influence in his career than his other transcendental activity as a surgery and anatomy teacher in Bologna for almost 30 years. The aim of the present manuscript is to analyze his teaching activities which were equally important for us, and to recreate, with pictorial means, three unpublished historic moments in the life of this great man of science.

[Teaching of medicine of the University of Bologna in the Reinaissance].

The foundation date of the University of Bologna was 1150, was the first European University and set the pattern. The combination of structured teaching and students association marked the origin of the studium generale. The presence of teaching legists encouraged teachers in others fields to come to Bologna.

[Surgery and anatomy in the Renaissance].

The interest in the physical perfection and the corporal forms brings as a result the creation of new anatomical studies. The anatomical knowledge progressed in the second half of the XV century, conceiving the knowledge of the human body as a basic reality of Medicine. One of the greater contributions of the Italian Universities to medicine was the teaching of anatomy.