Therapeutic evaluation of the polylactic acid gel (PLA-G) used for preventing skin flap adhesion in modified radical mastectomy / 生物医学工程学杂志

ABSTRACT

The present preliminary study was to observe the feasibility of the use of polylactic acid gel (PLA-G) in modified radical mastectomy and the ability of the PLA-G in the prevention of flap adhesion after operation. Sixty-eight patients were diagnosed with breast cancer, and received modified radical mastectomy from Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2006. The patients were divided randomly into a treatment group and a control group (with 34 cases each). The PLA-G was used under the surface of the auxiliary operative wound in the treatment group, and nothing was used in the control group. The wound healing, the wound complication, the amount of drainage solution, the indwelling time of the drainage tube and the auxiliary skin adhesion were evaluated after operation in both groups. There were no statistical difference on wound healing between the first intension (2927) and the second intention (57), and the wound dehiscence after taking the stitches out (00) between the two intensions, the hematoma (01) and the effusion of the wound (56), and the flap necrosis (12) between two groups. There were also no statistical difference on the amount of drainage solution per day (6 +/- 3) and indwelling time of the drainage tube (6 +/- 4) after operation between the two groups (P > 0.5). After the operation, the case load with no flap adhesion in the treatment group was significant higher compared with the control group (228). The case load with complete acquired skin flap adhesion in the treatment group was visibly lower than in the control group (319), which proved that there was a significant statistical difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). This study suggested that the using of PLA-G in the breast cancer modified radical mastectomy could prevent skin flap adhesion without any harmful effects in the wound healing.