Current diagnostics and treatment of the cubital tunnel syndrome in Austria.

According to the vote of the Austrian Society for Surgery of the Hand (ÖGH) an investigation to collect data on the current state of the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome was initiated. Over one year a total of 875 patients with cubital tunnel syndrome were operated in Austria, this means an incidence of this nerve entrapment of 0.011%.

Results after simple decompression of the ulnar nerve in cubital tunnel syndrome.

Cubital tunnel syndrome represents the second most common compression neuropathy of the upper limb. For more than four decades there has been a controversy about the best surgical treatment modality for cubital tunnel syndrome. In this study the results of 28 patients with simple ulnar nerve decompression are presented.

Reconstructive surgery in immunocompromised patients: evaluation and therapy.

Background: An increasing number of patients undergoing reconstructive surgery are immunocompromised due to different reasons and different medical treatments. Some of the used immunosuppressive drugs may affect the process of wound healing and thereby, impair the long-term success of surgical treatment. Therefore, this retrospective analysis aimed at the evaluation of the perioperative treatment and surgical outcome of immunocompromised patients undergoing different reconstructive procedures.

A new approach of in vivo musculoskeletal tissue engineering using the epigastric artery as central core vessel of a 3-dimensional construct.

The creation of musculoskeletal tissue represents an alternative for the replacement of soft tissue in reconstructive surgery. However, most of the approaches of creating artificial tissue have their limitations in the size as the maximally obtainable dimension of bioartificial tissue (BAT) is limited due to the lack of supporting vessels within the 3-dimensional construct. The seeded myoblasts require high amounts of perfusion, oxygen, and nutrients to survive.

Epineurial sheath tube (EST) technique: an experimental peripheral nerve repair model.

Objective: Here we present the epineurial sheath tube (EST) technique as a modified microsurgical rat sciatic nerve model. The EST technique provides a cavity or pouch consisting of an outer epineurial sleeve that has been freed from nerve fascicles. This cavity may be appropriate to test the effectiveness and biocompatibility of implanted growth factors, cell suspensions (embedded in solutions or gels), or bioartificial nerve guide constructs.

A rare case of toxic epidermal necrolysis with unexpected Fever resulting from dengue virus.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), also known as Lyell's syndrome, is a life-threatening disease with common development of large wounds. Thus, affected patients are usually treated in specialized centers. Herein, we present a case of TEN in a patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus with the additional, unexpected diagnosis of dengue fever.