Clinical Applications of the Transverse Musculocutaneous Gracilis Flap for Secondary Breast Reconstruction after Simple Mastectomy.

Background: In secondary autologous breast reconstruction, the current standard is a flap derived from the lower abdomen or the back. If these donor sites are not available because of lack of tissue, prior operations, or simply the patient's desire to avoid these donor sites, the authors use the transverse musculocutaneous gracilis flap if feasible.

Methods: The authors retrospectively evaluated only patients where secondary autologous breast reconstruction was performed with a transverse musculocutaneous gracilis flap because of the prior mentioned reasons.

Micro-fractional, directional skin tightening: A porcine model.

Background And Objective: Skin changes are among the most visible signs of aging. Fractional ablative lasers improve skin quality by making small skin wounds that heal rapidly without scarring. While they improve skin texture and discoloration, there is minimal effect on skin laxity.

The transverse musculocutaneous gracilis flap for chest wall reconstruction in male patients with Poland's syndrome.

Poland's syndrome represents a congenital unilateral deformity of the breast, chest wall, and upper limb with extremely variable manifestations. In most cases, the problem is mainly cosmetic, and the reconstruction of the chest wall should use a method designed to be performed easily and to achieve minimal scarring and donor site morbidity. We describe using a transverse musculocutaneous gracilis (TMG) flap for chest wall and anterior maxillary fold reconstruction in three male patients.

Successful delayed reconstruction of common peroneal neuroma-in-continuity using sural nerve graft.

Injuries of the common peroneal nerve (CPN) are frequent and associated with poor motor outcomes. So far, the opinion is held, that nerve reconstruction is reasonable and indicated up to 6 months after injury. We describe successful sural nerve interposition grafting in a patient with neuroma-in-continuity formation of the CPN, presenting with foot drop, 13 months after injury.

Colorimetric examination of typical free flap donor sites and comparison to recipient sites in the extremities.

Results after free flap reconstruction in the extremities are often impaired by missing color match of the transferred flap and the recipient site. But pre-existing color match is the precondition for satisfying aesthetic results. To obtain suitable free flap donor sites in terms of color for extremity reconstruction and to understand frequent color mismatch, we performed a colorimetric study including 60 healthy volunteers.

Lower limb salvage in a 7-month-old infant using free tissue transfer.

Free flap reconstruction in infants is extremely rare. A seven-and-a-half-month-old male infant sustained an extensive soft tissue defect on his left knee caused by extravasation of an intraosseous arterenol infusion. A free latissimus dorsi flap was successfully performed for soft tissue reconstruction.

Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: successful treatment by mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction.

We describe three women with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM), a rare, benign breast disease. It is a chronic inflammatory lesion of the breast and presents with the clinical symptoms of inflammation, breast mass and tumorous indurations and ulcerations of the skin. Clinical and radiological findings often mimic breast cancer.

Skin banking: treatment option for native skin necrosis following skin-sparing mastectomy and previous breast irradiation.

Skin flap necrosis, as well as positive resection margins in the context of skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction, may require reoperation, potentially associated with tissue loss, and thereby impair the aesthetic result. Skin banking has recently been described as a method for handling skin flaps of uncertain viability. Here, we describe the advantages of skin banking in previously irradiated patients with breast cancer recurrence, which underwent skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction.