Patient-reported outcomes after immediate and delayed DIEP-flap breast reconstruction in the setting of post-mastectomy radiation therapy-results of the multicenter UMBRELLA breast cancer cohort.

Purpose: Timing of Deep Inferior Epigastric artery Perforator (DIEP)-flap breast reconstruction in the context of post-mastectomy radiotherapy for breast cancer patients is topic of debate. We compared the impact of immediate (before radiotherapy) versus delayed (after radiotherapy) DIEP-flap breast reconstruction (IBR versus DBR) on short- and long-term patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

Methods: Within the prospective, multicenter breast cancer cohort (UMBRELLA), we identified 88 women who underwent immediate or delayed DIEP-flap breast reconstruction and received PMRT.

Giant Seromal Cyst Development After Tourniquet Use During Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Case Report.

Case: An 84-year old woman developed 2 large seromal cysts at the medial side of her right thigh, 4 months after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The cysts were located at the place where the tourniquet, during surgery, had been applied. The diagnosis was confirmed with echography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Higher reconstruction failure and less patient-reported satisfaction after post mastectomy radiotherapy with immediate implant-based breast reconstruction compared to immediate autologous breast reconstruction.

Purpose: To improve shared decision making, clinical- and patient-reported outcomes between immediate implant-based and autologous breast reconstruction followed by postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) were compared.

Methods: All women with in situ and/or invasive breast cancer who underwent skin sparing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) (autologous- or implant based, one- or two staged) followed by PMRT in the Utrecht region between 2012 and 2016 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry, of which 112 (59%) agreed to participate. The primary outcome was reconstruction failure after the start of radiotherapy, and secondary outcomes were patient-reported outcomes measured with BREAST-Q.

Adaptation trajectories during adhesion and spreading affect future cell states.

Cells are complex systems in which dynamic gene expression and protein-interaction networks adapt to changes in the environment. Seeding and subsequent spreading of cells on substrates represents an example of adaptation to a major perturbation. The formation of adhesive interactions and self-organisation of the cytoskeleton during initial spreading might prime future cell behaviour.

Collagen Gels with Different Fibrillar Microarchitectures Elicit Different Cellular Responses.

The extracellular matrix consists of a complex mixture of fibrillar proteins, in which the architecture and mechanical properties of the protein fibrils vary considerably in various tissues. Here, we systematically polymerized collagen gels at different temperatures, providing substrates with tunable mechanics and defined local microarchitecture. We studied the dependence of spreading dynamics, proliferation, migration, and differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on the fibrillar properties as compared to the bulk properties of the matrix.