Clinical Significance of Internal Mammary Lymph Node Biopsy during Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction: Review of 264 Cases.

Background: Despite the knowledge of alternate lymphatic draining patterns of the breast, routine evaluation of the internal mammary lymph node basin is still not considered standard of care. The advent of microsurgical breast reconstruction using the internal mammary vessels as recipients, however, has allowed sampling of internal mammary lymph nodes with technical ease, thus revisiting their role in breast cancer management. In the present study, the authors reviewed their experience with this practice.

Surgical management of silicone mastitis: case series and review of the literature.

Background: Free silicone injection for breast augmentation, which became widespread in the 1960s and continues illicitly to this day, has well-known adverse effects. In this retrospective chart review of 14 patients treated for silicone mastitis from 1990 to 2002, we present our experience with the surgical management of patients with silicone mastitis.

Methods: All the patients were women, ranging in age from 49 to 76 years old (mean age = 58.

Emergency surgical treatment of an ulcerative and hemorrhagic congenital/infantile fibrosarcoma of the lower leg: case report and literature review.

Fibrosarcomas are rare malignant soft-tissue tumors occurring mostly in infants younger than 1 year of age. Fibrosarcomas can ulcerate and cause various complications, which could threaten a fetus in utero or a child in the early neonatal period. We report a unique case of congenital infantile fibrosarcoma of the lower leg, its treatment and pathology.

Robotic-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in a patient with combined medial compartment arthritis and subchondral defect of the medial femoral condyle.

Subchondral defects, or severe osteoarthritic changes, of the medial compartment may complicate component positioning and require proper planning and exact placement to ensure adequate and stable fixation and proper postoperative kinematics. This is a case report on our experience with a CT-based robotic tactile guidance system for unicompartmental knee replacement in a patient with combined medial compartment degenerative joint disease and subchondral defect of the medial femoral condyle. Using the TGS in this case, an exact burring process of the femoral cavity adjacent to the subchondral defect resulted in accurate burring of the cavity depth and width, while preservation of the surrounding supporting bony boundary was possible.

Host defense peptides as effector molecules of the innate immune response: a sledgehammer for drug resistance?

Host defense peptides can modulate the innate immune response and boost infection-resolving immunity, while dampening potentially harmful pro-inflammatory (septic) responses. Both antimicrobial and/or immunomodulatory activities are an integral part of the process of innate immunity, which itself has many of the hallmarks of successful anti-infective therapies, namely rapid action and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities. This gives these peptides the potential to become an entirely new therapeutic approach against bacterial infections.