Preservation of the lateral thoracic vein in axillary dissection - its role in breast reconstruction using the DIEP flap.

Axillary clearance is still an integral part of the surgical treatment of breast cancer. Despite evolution in surgical technique, some accessory axillary structures such as the lateral throacic vein, may be sacrificied in order to achieve and adequate oncological clearance. Recent years have seen rapid advances in onco-plastic surgery and its involvement in breast cancer patients.

Malignant melanoma and deep penetrating naevus--difficulties in diagnosis in children.

A 4-year-old boy presented to our department with a darkly pigmented lesion on the right side of his neck. It was excised and a diagnosis of deep penetrating naevus with atypical features was made. At 4-month follow-up our patient had developed a palpable cervical lymph node.

Manually after-loaded 192Ir low-dose rate brachytherapy after subtotal excision and flap reconstruction of recurrent cervical lymphadenopathy from head and neck cancer.

Background: Treatment of extensive recurrent cervical lymph node metastases from previously irradiated head and neck cancer represents a difficult clinical challenge. We report the results of an approach of maximal surgical debulking and manually after-loaded intra-operative brachytherapy.

Patients And Methods: Seventy-four procedures were carried out at the Royal Marsden Hospital between 1979 and 2003.

Psychosocial outcome of patients after ear reconstruction: a retrospective study of 62 patients.

This was a retrospective study examining the psychosocial morbidity of patients before and after ear reconstruction. Semistructured questionnaires were sent to 90 patents with significant congenital or acquired auricular deformity 2.2 years (range 3 months to 5 years) following autogenous or osteointegrated reconstruction.

Arterial and venous anatomical features of the pectoralis minor muscle flap pedicle.

The pectoralis minor muscle has been used as an innervated, vascularized, free-muscle graft in the field of facial reanimation for 20 years. Throughout this period, several centers have demonstrated consistent success with functional muscle transfer; however, opinions regarding the arterial pedicle of the flap have varied. The lateral thoracic and thoracoacromial arteries have been proposed as the predominant arterial sources.

The SOOF lift: its role in correcting midfacial and lower facial asymmetry in patients with partial facial palsy.

Subperiosteal face lifting has gained wide acceptance in aesthetic surgical practice. It may also have a role to play in patients with partial facial palsy. These patients demonstrate poor static position of the mouth but maintain some degree of facial movement.