Objective?To investigate the surgical methods and clinical results of repairing soft tissue defects in the thumb with distally-based dorsal thumb neurocutaneous vascular flap.?Methods?From January 2006 to October 2007, 23 patients with soft tissue defect in the thumb were treated, including 20 males and 3 females aged 19-46 years old (average 27.5 years old). The defect was caused by crush injury in 1 case, electric planer accident in 6 cases, incised injury in 8 cases, and avulsion injury in 8 cases. The defect was located on the palmar aspect of the thumb distal phalanx in 3 cases, the dorsal-radial aspect of the thumb distal phalanx in 3 cases, and ulnar or dorsal aspect in 17 cases. The defect size ranged from 3.3 cm × 1.2 cm to 4.2 cm × 1.2 cm. Among them, 18 cases were complicated with distal 1/2 nail bed defect or injury. The time between injury and hospital admission was 1- 72 hours (average 22 hours). During operation, the defect was repaired with distally-based dorsal-radial neurovenocutaneous vascular flap of the thumb in 3 cases and distally-based dorsal-ulnar neurovenocutaneous vascular flap of the thumb in 20 cases. The size of those flaps was 4.0 cm × 1.6 cm-5.0 cm × 3.0 cm. The donor site underwent direct suture or split thickness skin graft repair.?Results?At 10 days after operation, 3 cases suffered from the epidermal necrosis in the distal part of the flap, 2 of them experienced the exfoliation of dark scab 14 days later and the flap survived, and the flap of the rest one survived after dressing change. The other flaps and the skin graft at the donor site all survived uneventfully. The wounds healed by first intention. All the patients were followed up for 10-16 months (average 12.6 months). The flaps were soft in texture and full in appearance. The two-point discrimination value 6 months after operation was 8-10 mm. At 12 months after operation, the growth of the residual fingernail was evident in 18 cases, including 4 cases of curved or hook fingernail. Active flexion and extension of the thumb were normal. The abduction of the first web space reached or surpassed 80 percent of the normal side in 20 cases and was below 80 percent of the normal side in 3 cases. The clinical outcomes were satisfactory in 11 cases, approximately satisfactory in 8 cases, and unsatisfactory in 4 cases according to self-designed evaluation system.?Conclusion?The operative method of repairing the soft tissue defects in the thumb with the distally-based dorsal thumb neurocutaneous vascular flap is simple, stable in anatomy, in line with the principle of proximity, and suitable for repairing thumb tip defect 3 cm in size. It can bring a good postoperative appearance of the thumb and little influence on the hand function.
Objective To investigate the result of the transplantation of frozen canine phalangeal joint allografts perforated and incorporated with autogenic bone marrow. Methods A proximal interphalangeal joint defect of 1.5 cm was prepared at bilateral sides of twenty-four adult healthy out-bred dogs. Three different types of allografts were applied to repair the defects: fresh autogenic phalangeal joints (group A,n=16), frozen phalangeal joint allografts perforated and incorporated with fresh autogenic bone marrow(group B, n=16), and frozen phalangeal joint allografts(group C, n=16). Radiographic and histological study wereused to evaluate the survival of transplanted joints. The observation was done 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after operation respectively. Results Based on the radiographic and histological changes of the transplanted joints, the osteoarthropathy of transplanted canine phalangeal joints could be divided into 3 degrees: mild degeneration, moderate degeneration and severe degeneration. Mild degeneration was observed in group A from 3 to 12 months. Mild degeneration was also found in group B from 1 to 6 months, and the endochondral ossification was obvious within the drilled bony holes.However, some joints in group B underwent moderate degeneration 12 months after operation. Group C joints in the first month had moderate degeneration, which progressed to severe egeneration 3 months after operation. Conclusion Transplantation of frozen canine phalangeal joint allografts perforated and incorporated with autogenic bone marrow can effectively delay the degeneration of transplanted osteoarticular allografts at the early and middle stage.
Objective To evaluate the effect of the plasma treated PLGA nerve conduits seeded BMSCs on repairing SD rat sciatic nerve defects. Methods BMSCs were acquired from 30 newborn SD rats. After ampl ified and passaged for 3 times, PLGA nerve conduits were prepared and some of them were treated with plasma. A 1-cm-length sciatic nerve defect wasmade in 30 4-week-old SD rats, then they were randomly divided into 3 groups for three different nerve defects reconstruction methods (n=10). In the experimental group, defect was repaired by plasma treatment and PGLA nerve conduits seeded with BMSCs; in the control group, by normal PLGA nerve conduits seeded with BMSCs; and in the autologous group, by autologous nerve. At 6 weeks after the surgery, the dynamic walking pattern was recorded and the sciatic function index (SFI) was calculated; the electrophysiological test was taken; the gastrocnemius wet weight recovery rate was calculated; and the image analysis of regenerated nerve was made. Results All rats survived after the surgery and l ived to the end of the experiment. At 6 weeks after the surgery, the dynamic walking pattern of the experimental group and autologous group was better than that of the control group. The SFI value of the experimental, control and autologous groups was —51.02 ± 6.54, —58.73 ± 7.87 and —48.73 ± 3.95, respectively, showing statistically significant differences among the experimental group, control group and autologous group (P lt; 0.05). The results of the motor nerve conduction velocity and wave ampl itude showed that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group (P lt; 0.05), and between the control group and the autologous group (Plt; 0.01); but no significant difference between the experimental group and autologous group(Pgt; 0.05); The gastrocnemius wet weight recovery rate of the experimental, control and autologous groups was 56.13% ± 4.27%, 43.14% ± 6.52%, 59.47% ± 3.85%, respectively; showing statistically significant differences among experimental group, control group and autologous group (P lt; 0.05). The density, diameter of regenerated nerve fiber as well as neural sheath thickness of the experimental group were all higher than those of the control group (P lt; 0.05) and lower than those of the autologous nerve group (P lt; 0.05); there was significant difference between the control group and the autologous group (P lt; 0.01). Conclusion Plasma treated PLGA nerve conduits seeded with BMSCs can effectively repair sciatic nerve defects and provide a new strategy for the development of tissue engineered nerve to repair the peripheral nerve defects.