Improving Outcomes in Immediate and Delayed Nerve Grafting of Peripheral Nerve Gaps Using Light-Activated Sealing of Neurorrhaphy Sites with Human Amnion Wraps.

Background: Photochemical tissue bonding uses visible light to create sutureless, watertight bonds between two apposed tissue surfaces stained with photoactive dye. When applied to nerve grafting, photochemical tissue bonding can result in superior outcomes compared with suture fixation. Our previous success has focused on immediate repair.

Light-Activated Sealing of Acellular Nerve Allografts following Nerve Gap Injury.

Introduction Photochemical tissue bonding (PTB) uses visible light to create sutureless, watertight bonds between two apposed tissue surfaces stained with photoactive dye. In phase 1 of this two-phase study, nerve gaps repaired with bonded isografts were superior to sutured isografts. When autograft demand exceeds supply, acellular nerve allograft (ANA) is an alternative although outcomes are typically inferior.

Light-Activated Sealing of Nerve Graft Coaptation Sites Improves Outcome following Large Gap Peripheral Nerve Injury.

Background: Nerve repair using photochemically bonded human amnion nerve wraps can result in superior outcomes in comparison with standard suture. When applied to nerve grafts, efficacy has been limited by proteolytic degradation of bonded amnion during extended periods of recovery. Chemical cross-linking of amnion before bonding may improve wrap durability and efficacy.

Augmenting peripheral nerve regeneration using stem cells: A review of current opinion.

Outcomes following peripheral nerve injury remain frustratingly poor. The reasons for this are multifactorial, although maintaining a growth permissive environment in the distal nerve stump following repair is arguably the most important. The optimal environment for axonal regeneration relies on the synthesis and release of many biochemical mediators that are temporally and spatially regulated with a high level of incompletely understood complexity.

The role of hybrid SPECT/CT for lymphatic mapping in patients with melanoma.

Introduction: Lymphoscintigraphy in melanoma provides important information on the dynamic drainage of the primary tumour and the location of the sentinel lymph node (SLN). Unfortunately these images lack anatomical detail. Single positron emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) provides extremely detailed information on the location of the SLN and its relationship with surrounding structures and it is the aim of this study to report our initial experience with this technology.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy in thick malignant melanoma: a 10-year single unit experience.

Between the years 2000-2010, 195 patients were diagnosed with ≥4 mm Breslow thickness malignant melanoma in our unit. Median follow-up was 36.8 months.

Findings of computed tomography in stage IIB and IIC melanoma: a six-year retrospective study in the South-East of Scotland.

Introduction: Patient prognosis in malignant melanoma is directly related to clinical stage, and accurate staging is key to appropriate management. Revised BAD/BAPS (British Association of Dermatologists/British association of Plastic Surgeons) 2010 guidelines for the management of cutaneous melanoma recommend that Computed Tomography (CT) is no longer indicated for AJCC (American Joint Cancer Committee) IIB and IIC disease (Breslow thickness 2.01 - 4 mm with ulceration or >4 mm), unless the patient is symptomatic.

No such thing as "just" a nail bed injury.

Nail bed injuries are the commonest pediatric hand injuries presenting to the emergency department. If managed correctly, the patient recovers quickly and complications are rare. However, failure to appreciate the complex anatomy of the perionychium and the importance of exploration, washout, and repair can result in devastating complications.

Management of Marjolin's ulcer in a chronic pressure sore secondary to paraplegia: a radical surgical solution.

Marjolin's ulcer refers to malignant degeneration in a chronic wound. Although originally described in an area of burns scar, many other chronic wounds such as osteomyelitis sinus tracts, venous stasis ulcers and chronic pressure sores have the potential to undergo malignant transformation. We present an interesting case of malignant degeneration in a male paraplegic patient with chronic sacral and ischial pressure sores.