[Tuberous breast reshaping mammoplasty without augmentation or reduction]

Tuberous breasts are defined by a shape anomaly, in certain relatively rare situations, patients are satisfied with the volume and only ask for a shape correction without increase or decrease. They may also be very young girls in whom the indication for implantation of a prosthesis could be premature or who do not have sufficient fat reserves for fat transfer. We discuss the different possible techniques and we propose a simple technique, relatively fast, easily reproducible whatever the experience of the surgeon, without vascular complications in our experience due to the absence of skin detachment, with a satisfactory and stable result in the time. The authors are based on a series of 12 patients operated between 2000 and 2021.

Hyaluronic Acid Dermal Filler Promotes Cartilage Reshaping in Rabbit Ears

BACKGROUND

Neonatal ear is more malleable and soft, allowing the correction of deformities by using external molding. This is mainly attributed to high concentration of the proteoglycan aggregate and hyaluronic acid. In this study, HA dermal filler was injected in rabbit ear as a long acting HA source to investigate the biological impact of HA in reshaping the ear cartilage.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ears of twelve rabbits were divided into 4 groups. Control group was the left ears of 6 animals which were left intact. Group 2 was the right ears of the same animals, which received saline solution injection. Group 3 was the left ears of the other 6 animals, which were given 1 mL of HA. Group 4 was the right ears of them, which were given 2 mL of HA in both sites of the ear. All ears were folded and splinted for 4 weeks. Then, the angle of each ear was calculated. Following an additional 4 weeks, a cartilage biopsy was taken for histological examination.

RESULTS

The ear angles did not show any statistical difference at week 4. There was a significant difference among the groups at the 8th week. In the 3rd and 4th groups, mean angles were higher than the group 1 and group 2. Thickening in the cartilage and ectopic cartilage formation was observed in the contact areas to hyaluronic acid. Significant difference was also found between the peak and mean cartilage thicknesses.

CONCLUSION

HA dermal filler can stimulate cartilage regeneration by increasing the synthesis of extracellular matrix and chondrogenesis especially where it is in direct contact with the ear cartilage.

NO LEVEL ASSIGNED

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Reshaping of pipette tip: A facile and practical strategy for sorbent packing-free solid phase extraction

Pipette tip-based solid phase extraction (PT-SPE) has been proved to be an effective and user-friendly separation technique due to its miniaturized procedure and practical convenience. However, the vast majority of existing PT-SPE devices consist of a filter-sorbents-filter sandwich structure, which may suffer the unforeseen risk of sorbents leakage caused by the looseness of filters. More importantly, many high-capacity nanosorbents with particle size smaller than pore size of filters are unavailable. Thus, sorbent packing-free and sample low-consumption PT-SPE could be a more robust strategy for separation and detection, but such a possibility has not been explored yet. Herein we report a tubing reshaping strategy for facile fabrication of sorbent packing-free PT-SPE devices. Three types of reshaped PTs, namely stretched tube-like, self-crimping and filter in-built PTs, were fabricated via simple heating and stretching operations. The reshaped PTs exhibited flexible surface chemical post-modification. The SPE process was directly performed in reshaped PTs with an obviously enhanced extraction efficiency compared to once-shaping PTs while no need of packing sorbents. Extraction of nucleosides from human urine by boronic acid-functionalized reshaped PTs was demonstrated. Our findings technically renovate the structural composition of PT-SPE devices. As PTs are inexpensive and high-plasticity, the sorbent packing-free SPE scheme presented herein could find more promising applications and provides a new perspective for design and fabrication of novel sorbent packing-free SPE devices.

A novel technique of reshaping the post of a constrained liner to avoid post and primary box mismatch in a case of recurrent dislocation after total knee arthroplasty

Knee dislocation after total knee arthroplasty, although rare, is a dangerous injury that can lead to neurovascular compromise and permanent disability. With the increase in number of total knee arthroplasty, more and more cases of dislocations are being reported. We describe a novel technique of reshaping the post of a constrained liner to fit into the box of a vanguard primary knee system in a patient with recurrent posterior knee dislocation after a PS TKA with a follow-up of 5 years.

Plasticity of vertebral wedge deformities in skeletally immature patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis after posterior corrective surgery

Background

Vertebral bodies in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) usually have frontal wedge deformities. However, the plasticity of the deformed vertebrae in skeletally immature patients is unknown. The purpose of our study was to clarify the plasticity of vertebral deformities in skeletally immature patients with AIS by using in vivo three-dimensional (3D) analysis.

Methods

Ten female patients with AIS (mean age, 12.2 years; three patients, Lenke type 1; five patients, type 2; two patients, type 5) who underwent posterior fusion and whose Risser grade was ≤3 at surgery were included. Using computed tomography images (0.625-mm slice thickness) obtained 1 week and 1 year postoperatively, a total of seventy-three 3D bone models of vertebrae was made. The 3D bone models were made between the upper and lower end vertebrae within the main thoracic curve for patients with Lenke types 1 and 2 scoliosis, whereas they were made within the thoracolumbar/lumbar curve in patients with Lenke type 5 scoliosis. The height of the concave and convex sides in the anterior, middle and posterior parts of the vertebral bodies was measured using the original digital viewer, and the vertebral height ratio (VHR: concave/convex) was calculated. VHRs at 1 week and 1 year postoperatively were compared using the Wilcoxson signed-rank test. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Results

VHR of the end vertebrae (n = 20) did not change postoperatively for any parts of the vertebral bodies. VHR of the vertebrae in the apical region (n = 28) also remained unchanged postoperatively. In contrast, VHR of the other vertebrae (n = 25) increased significantly in the anterior part postoperatively (from 0.938 to 0.961, p = 0.006).

Conclusions

The wedge deformity of vertebral bodies showed a reshaping potential towards a symmetrical configuration in the region other than end and apex, although no plasticity of the vertebrae was observed in the apical region even in skeletally immature patients with AIS.

Viability and Regeneration of Chondrocytes after Laser Cartilage Reshaping Using 1,460 nm Diode Laser

Objectives

Cartilage reshaping by laser irradiation is used to correct septal and auricular cartilage deformities. Chondrocyte viability following laser irradiation and reshaping has been well established. However, the regeneration process of chondrocyte after laser irradiation has not been revealed yet. The aims of this study were to determine the mechanism of cartilaginous thermal injury and the regenerative process of damaged cartilage following laser irradiation.

Methods

Laser irradiation was performed on human septal cartilage and rabbit auricular cartilage using a 1,460-nm diode laser. We observed change in the shape of cartilage and evaluated the extent of cartilage injury using live/dead cell assay via confocal microscopy. Hoechst and propidium iodide (PI) staining was used to evaluate the mechanism of chondrocyte injury after laser irradiation. To evaluate the regeneration of cartilage, laser irradiated cartilages were reimplanted into a subperichondrial pocket and were harvested at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after reimplantation for viability assessment and histologic examination.

Results

Laser irradiation using a 1,460-nm diode laser produced a marked shape change in both human septal and rabbit auricular cartilages. Thermal damage on cartilage was correlated with the exposure time and the laser power. Hoechst and PI staining showed that chondrocyte death by laser irradiation was due to mainly necrosis, rather than apoptosis. In lower power treatment group (0.3 W and 0.5 W), all the chondrocytes regenerated within 4 weeks, however, in 1 W treatment group, chondrocytes could not regenerate until 4 weeks.

Conclusion

Reshaping of cartilage using 1,460 nm diode laser was attained concurrently with the thermal injury to the chondrocytes. The extent of thermal damage on chondrocytes was dependent on the exposure time and the laser power and the damaged chondrocytes irradiated with lower level of laser power could be regenerated after reimplantation into subperichondrial pocket.