Clinical Practice Guideline: The Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injuries.

Background: Nerve lesions often heal incompletely, leading to lifelong functional impairment and high costs for the health care system. The updated German clinical practice guideline is intended to promote the early recognition of nerve lesions and the timely initiation of proper treatment for optimal restoration of function.

Methods: The recommendations are based on an assessment of all the evidence revealed by a systematic search of the literature, as well as on the expertise of the multiprofessional guideline group.

Indication-Specific Effect of a Phytotherapeutic Remedy on Human Fetal Osteoblastic Cells: An in vitro Analysis.

Background: Impaired fracture healing is a recurring interdisciplinary medical challenge. Alternative treatment concepts, apart from conventional medicine, are popular, but scientific evidence on their effects is still lacking. Plant-derived substances are widely assumed to support bone homeostasis.

Multicenter consensus statements on the use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) in Hand Surgery.

Objective: The purpose of this agreement was to establish consensus statements on the use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) in hand surgery.

Methods: Based on Delphi consensus methodology, a preliminary list of questions on the use of LIPUS in hand surgery was developed by an interdisciplinary team of hand and plastic surgeons as well as psychologists and experts from communications science. Based on these, questionnaires were invented and a total of three Delphi rounds have been conducted.

Perfusion of the proximal scaphoid pole: correlation between preoperative ge-MRI and intraoperative findings.

Background: Gadolinium enhanced MRI (ge-MRI) is considered as gold standard for perfusion evaluation in case of scaphoid nonunion (SNU). However, its clinical value and specificity is still not clearly evaluated. This study compares preoperative ge-MRI-based perfusion assessment and intraoperative proximal pole (PP) perfusion after scaphoid reconstruction by vascularized bone grafts.

Teaching Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction-A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Microsurgical breast reconstruction demands the highest level of expertise in both reconstructive and aesthetic plastic surgery. Implementation of such a complex surgical procedure is generally associated with a learning curve defined by higher complication rates at the beginning. The aim of this study was to present an approach for teaching deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) and transverse upper gracilis (TUG) flap breast reconstruction, which can diminish complications and provide satisfying outcomes from the beginning.

The effect of bone inhibitors on periosteum-guided cartilage regeneration.

The regeneration capacity of knee cartilage can be enhanced by applying periosteal grafts, but this effect varies depending on the different sources of the periosteal grafts applied for cartilage formation. Tibia periosteum can be used to enhance cartilage repair. However, long-term analysis has not been conducted.

Influence of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on bone turnover markers in organisms with normal and low bone mineral density during fracture healing: a randomized clinical trial.

Low bone mineral density (BMD) leads to metaphyseal fractures, which are considered of delayed, qualitatively reduced healing resulting in prolonged care phases and increased socioeconomic costs. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is already approved to support bone healing of pseudarthrosis and delayed unions. With this study, we examined its influence on bone turnover markers (BTM) during fracture healing in patients with low and normal BMD.

Validation of the Ludwigshafen German Version of the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief.

The Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B) is one of the most commonly used instruments to measure quality of life after burns. Our aim was to establish and to provide a German version of the BSHS-B for all German-speaking burn facilities. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original English version into the German language was conducted.

Preparation and characterization of 45S5 bioactive glass-based scaffolds loaded with PHBV microspheres with daidzein release function.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) microsphere loaded 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) based scaffolds with drug releasing capability have been developed. PHBV microspheres with a mean particle size 4 ± 2 μm loaded with daidzein were obtained by oil-in-water single emulsion solvent evaporation method and applied to the surface of BG scaffolds by dip coating technique. The morphology, in vitro bioactivity in simulated body fluid (SBF), mechanical properties and drug release kinetics of microsphere loaded scaffolds were studied.

Suprathel(®) for severe burns in the elderly: Case report and review of the literature.

Large burns in aged patients are common and treatment often reveals challenging. Cardiovascular complications significantly contribute to the unfavorable prognosis in this group of high-risk patients. Pain medication and sedation can negatively influence cardiovascular stability.

The vascularized periosteum flap as novel tissue engineering model for repair of cartilage defects.

Periosteum is a promising tissue engineering scaffold in research of cartilage repair; so far however, periosteum transfers have not been realized successfully because of insufficient nourishment of the graft. In a translational approach we, for the first time, designed a vascularized periosteum flap as 'independent' biomaterial with its own blood supply to address this problem and to reconstruct circumscript cartilage defects. In six 3-month-old New Zealand rabbits, a critical size cartilage defect of the medial femur condyle was created and covered by a vascularized periosteum flap pedicled on the saphenous vessels.

Characteristics of bone turnover in the long bone metaphysis fractured patients with normal or low Bone Mineral Density (BMD).

The incidence of osteoporotic fractures increases as our population ages. Until now, the exact biochemical processes that occur during the healing of metaphyseal fractures remain unclear. Diagnostic instruments that allow a dynamic insight into the fracture healing process are as yet unavailable.