Body lift with lateral thigh lift: surgical technique and comparison with the inferior body lift.

BACKGROUND: Despite its rarity, cutaneous adipose tissue excess in the trochanteric region following massive weight loss is a surgical challenge. The aim of this work is to propose a surgical technique for lifting the outer thighs by describing its indications and its limitations. METHODS: 74 patients were recruited into the study between 2018 2021. Two groups were identified: patients with bodylift combined with lateral thigh lift (n=20) and patients with lower bodylift (n=54). Satisfaction was obtained through the BODY Q questionnaire. The average operating time is 45 minutes longer when an outer thigh lift is performed. The median length of hospitalization is similar. The complication rate is 26% for the bodylift group and 60% for the thigh lift group (p<0.01); the most common complication is dehiscence. RESULTS: Data analysis shows that the lateral thigh lift technique does not affect immediate postoperative evolution or hospitalization duration, proving its safety. There was an increase in total complications among patients who underwent lateral thigh lifts. Dehiscence is the most common complication, which is an outpatient treatment. The satisfaction rate is high. Satisfaction is linked to improved quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, the technique described is an effective means of trochanteric deformities.

The Periareolar Approach: All Seasons Technique for Multiple Breast Conditions.

The periareolar approach was first introduced by Hollander in 1924 and, since then, numerous contributions have been reported by different authors. Despite all the strengths associated with this versatile technique, the periareolar approach still poses three main problems: large areolar diameter with poor quality scar, flattening of the breast cone, and poor stability of the results. The purpose of this article is to show how this surgical technique, with a good patient selection, can be applied to different situations and obtain excellent results. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study on 5028 consecutive procedures in 4198 female patients treated with a periareolar approach in two regional institutions between 2008 and 2018. We considered 853 pure mastopexies, 362 breast augmentations, 422 secondary breast augmentations, 402 corrections of stenotic breast, 2921 oncoplastic surgeries, and 68 breast reductions. Postoperative complication, as well as patient and surgeon satisfaction were assessed. RESULT: Patient and surgeon satisfaction 1 year after the procedure was excellent, and the complication rate was low. CONCLUSIONS: When the indication is set correctly, the periareolar approach can obtain excellent results. This versatile technique, initially introduced as a mastopexy technique, has expanded its applications and can now be used for multiple surgical situations.

Evaluation of the ex vivo Effects of Tamoxifen on Adipose-Derived Stem Cells: A Pilot Study.

Autologous fat grafting (AFG) is a safe and minimally invasive procedure to correct soft tissue defects. The benefit of AFG is attributed to adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) in fat tissue graft. This technique is useful also in patients undergoing reconstructive surgery following quadrantectomy for breast cancer. However, these patients are frequently treated with tamoxifen. We evaluated the ex vivo effects of tamoxifen on ASCs to understand if cellular functions of ASCs are affected. We selected 24 female patients; 10 of which were breast cancer patients treated with quadrantectomy and tamoxifen. As control group, we selected 14 healthy female subjects (9 premenopausal and 5 menopausal). We found that tamoxifen has no effect on cellular proliferation, VEGF secretion or apoptosis of ASCs. The gene expression assessment demonstrated no impairment in differentiation capacity of ASCs. Our results showed that tamoxifen has no effect on cellular functions of ASCs for the first time in an ex vivo single-center study.

Efficacy of short-term antibiotic prophylaxis in immediate two-stage breast reconstruction after mastectomy: A retrospective monocentric study.

BACKGROUND: Infective complications following implant-based breast reconstruction range from 2,5 to 24% and are often associated with high morbidity and poor outcome. Many authors still employ long-term antibiotic prophylaxis even though there is no conclusive evidence on the impact on infection-rate reduction. In the present study, we report we report our single-shot short-term prophylaxis protocol for surgical site infection prevention in immediate two-stage implant breast reconstruction. METHODS: We retrospectively compared clinical data from two groups of women undergoing immediate two-stage breast reconstruction with tissue expander. Group 1 (n = 391) was administered with long-term prophylaxis, and Group 2 (n = 89) was administered with short-term prophylaxis associated with early drains removal (21 days maximum). We evaluated risk factors for infection, clinical preoperative data, time before drain removal, and clinical feature of the diagnosed infections (early or late onset) and compared the reconstructive outcome between the two groups (infection rate, implant loss rate). RESULTS: We did not find any statistically significant difference in the infection rate (11,51% overall) and implant loss rate (4,49% overall) between the two groups. We found a difference in the implant loss to infection ratio (46.67% in group 1 and 20% in group 2, p < 0,05) and in the time before drain removal (19 days in group 1 and 15 days in group 2, p < 0.001). We finally found an association between prolonged time before drain removal and increased infection rate (p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Short-term single-shot perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis associated with early drain removal (within 21 days postop) represents a safe approach in terms of prevention of local infective surgical complication and allows a more effective treatment of the diagnosed SSI.

Superior Pedicle Breast Reduction with Prefiguration of Final Shape: A 10-year Retrospective Study.

Breast reduction, also defined as reduction mammaplasty, is one of the most common procedures performed in aesthetic surgery. Multiple techniques have been proposed throughout the years and several classification systems have been adopted according to: type of incision, pedicle blood supply (cutaneous, glandular, dermoglandular), extent of undermining, excision area, simultaneous or separate tissue excision (fat/gland, skin, or both), and combination of the aforementioned. In the present article, we share our 10 years' experience with reduction mammaplasty and we describe our personal technique, a modified superior pedicle breast reduction. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis on 823 consecutive patients undergoing either aesthetic or functional reduction mammaplasty at Humanitas Research Hospital between 2009 and 2018. For each patient, we evaluated the mean resection volume and complication rate. We also assessed patients' satisfaction (VAS scale) and aesthetic outcome (assessed by independent surgeons, scale from 1 to 5). RESULTS: The average patient age was 48, ranging from 17 to 77 years. The average operative time was 77 minutes, ranging from 62 to 123 minutes. After a thorough follow-up of these patients, we can conclude that our technique has a low complication rate, patients' satisfaction is excellent, and the result is stable over time in terms of shape and symmetry (the mean VAS score was 8.1). Postoperative surgeon's photographs evaluation scores were 4.5 ± 0.5. Average resected volume was 860gr. CONCLUSION: The proposed technique is safe, fast, and simple with a relatively short learning curve, making it didactic and intuitive for young surgeons.

Fat Grafting for Treatment of Facial Scars.

Autologous fat grafting has become more and more popular among plastic surgeons in the last few years due to recent discoveries on the mesenchymal stem cells stored in the harvested fat. These cells have a great regenerative potential and have the ability to restore the damaged tissues. The authors focused their practice on the treatment of the facial scars (derived from burns, trauma, degenerative diseases, and radiotherapy) and confirm that lipofilling is an excellent solution because it is able to improve the quality of the damaged tissues in terms of better scar color, pliability, thickness, relief, itching, pain, scar vascularization, and pigmentation.

The Impact of Preoperative Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy on Pectoralis Major Muscle Flap Reconstruction for Deep Sternal Wound Infections.

BACKGROUND: Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) represents a life-threatening complication following open-heart surgery and pectoralis major muscle flap reconstruction has led to a significant reduction in mortality and morbidity. Negative-pressure wound therapy represented a step forward in DSWI treatment, both as a single procedure or as a preparation for reconstructive surgery.In the present study, we report our 13 years' experience with sternal reconstruction in order to evaluate the impact of preoperative vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy on reconstructive outcome. METHODS: Seventy-three patients diagnosed with DSWI undergoing pectoralis major muscle flap reconstruction were divided into 2 subgroups: preoperative VAC treatment group (n = 37) and no preoperative VAC (NVAC n = 36). We collected patients' DSWI and reconstructive surgery clinical data, and we analyzed surgical outcome in terms of complication rate, reoperation rate, defects closure times, and intraoperative/30-day and 1-year mortality. RESULTS: Eighty-three flaps were used, bilateral flaps were used more in the NVAC subgroup (P = 0.005), and operative time was significantly shorter in the VAC subgroup (P < 0.001). Complication rate was 9.6%, with no significant differences between the 2 subgroups (P = 0.723). There was no recurrence of mediastinitis, and all flaps survived. Sternal closure time was significantly lower in the VAC subgroup (P < 0.001). No intraoperative death occurred; 30-day and 1-year mortality were 2.7% and 19.2%, respectively, with no significant difference between the 2 groups (P = 0.596). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative VAC therapy makes reconstructive surgery easier and faster, even though it has no impact on complication rate and overall success of the reconstruction. Pectoralis major muscle flap represents a reliable solution even if not associated with preoperative VAC.

Fat Graft in Composite Breast Augmentation with Round Implants: A New Concept for Breast Reshaping.

BACKGROUND: Breast augmentation surgery with implants is one of the most common aesthetic surgical procedures. Round and anatomical textured implants are employed very often, and fat grafting has proven to be a very useful complementary procedure in breast augmentation. Many authors report a more natural result with anatomical compared to round implants. Nevertheless, anatomical implants can be associated with complications such as implant rotation with subsequent shape distortion. In this article, we propose a combination of high-profile round implants and fat grafting to obtain a natural result analyzing its impact on the aesthetic outcome and patient satisfaction. METHODS: In this study, we report our personal approach on 31 consecutive patients undergoing primary aesthetic breast augmentation with high-profile round implants and fat grafting. We describe our personal technique of breast augmentation via the periareolar approach and fat grafting. We evaluated short- and medium-term aesthetic outcomes and patient satisfaction using a 10-point VAS scale. RESULTS: We achieved in all cases high patient satisfaction and good aesthetic outcomes with a "natural" breast shape and a "smoothened" upper pole with low complication rates. The technique is safe, simple, fast, and it leads to high levels of patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations show that the combination of high-profile round implants and fat grafting in aesthetic breast augmentation can improve the aesthetic outcome and patient satisfaction as with anatomical implants eliminating the risk of implant rotation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Autologous fat graft in irradiated orbit postenucleation for retinoblastoma.

Autologous fat grafting has been extensively and successfully adopted in a number of pathologic conditions in regenerative surgery especially on irradiated fields in order to improve pain symptoms and tissue trophism promoting scar release. In the present study, we report our experience with autologous fat grafting for the treatment of postirradiation fibrosis and pain on three consecutive patients undergoing orbital enucleation for locally advanced retinoblastoma (RB) and subsequent radiotherapy. We selected three consecutive patients who underwent orbital enucleation for locally advanced RB and subsequent local radiotherapy showing severe reduction in orbital volume and eyelid length and retraction due to fibrosis, spontaneous local pain exacerbated after digital pressure with no possibility to place an ocular implant. They underwent autologous fat grafting in the orbital cavity and results were evaluated by clinical examination at 5 and 14 days, and 1, 3, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery. A significant release of scar retraction, reduction of fibrosis and orbital rim contraction together with an important improvement of pain symptoms was observed in all patients. The local changes observed enabled an ease placement of an ocular prosthetic implant (implant). No local or systemic complication occurred. Fat grafting is a promising treatment for patients showing radiotherapy related complication in the orbital area and it should be adopted by all oculoplastic surgeon in order to improve pain syndrome creating the ideal local conditions for the placement of an ocular prosthetic implant.

MRI anatomical preoperative evaluation of distally based peroneus brevis muscle flap in reconstructive surgery of the lower limb.

BACKGROUND: The distally based peroneus brevis muscle flap has proved to be a simple solution for small- to moderate-sized wounds of the lower limb. The length of the muscle belly suitable for coverage is a crucial parameter. In this study, we evaluated the capability of 3D MRI of the lower limb to measure it preoperatively. METHODS: Between 2008 and 2017, 32 patients with lower limb defects underwent preoperative MRI to measure the peroneus brevis muscle length. All patients underwent reconstruction, and the muscle was measured again intraoperatively during surgical dissection. Surgical measurements were then compared to the MRI ones. RESULTS: MRI measures of the peroneus brevis muscle belly ranged from 9 to 21 cm (µ = 14.44 ± 3.43 cm), and intraoperative measures ranged from 9 to 20 cm (µ = 14.2 ± 2.3 cm). Thirty of 32 intraoperative measures corresponded to the MRI ones (variation = ± 1 cm, r = 0.92, p = 0.002). One patient showed an intraoperative muscle length 3 cm shorter than the MRI measure, and another patient had intraoperative muscle length 3 cm longer than the MRI one. All flaps survived, and no secondary local flap coverage was required, with no flap-related complication, limited donor site morbidity, and acceptable patient discomfort. CONCLUSIONS: The reverse peroneus brevis muscle flap is a versatile alternative to free flap reconstruction in small- to moderate-sized defects of the lower limb. Preoperative 3D MRI is accurate to evaluate the anatomy of the muscle when performed by an expert radiologist. In our experience, it should become part of preoperative workup before performing a peroneus brevis flap procedure.

Optimising aesthetic outcome after nipple-areola complex-sparing mastectomy and immediate one-stage prosthetic reconstruction: A simple surgical trick to fix nipple-areola complex position.

BACKGROUND: Nipple-areola complex (NAC) sparing mastectomy (NSM) is mostly indicated in patients with small-/medium-sized and non-ptotic breasts, while skin-reducing mastectomy is used in patients with medium or large breasts with severe ptosis. NAC location on the reconstructed breast is one of the major factors in determining the final aesthetic result and patients' satisfaction. An optimum result obtained at the end of surgical procedure may be altered and compromised by skin redistribution and consequently NAC depositioning during the post-operative period in patients with medium-sized breasts and a moderate degree of ptosis. AIMS: In the present study, we propose a simple surgical trick to fix the NAC in the desired position with a long-lasting result. METHODS: We selected 35 patients undergoing NAC sparing mastectomy for breast cancer and immediate one-stage prosthetic reconstruction and we performed a single suture to fix NAC in the desired position before closing the skin envelope. We evaluated NAC complex position stability overtime comparing pre-operative standard photographs with early (3 weeks after surgery) and late (1 year after surgery). RESULTS: In all patients, we were able to place the NAC complex on the desired position, and the result was stable at 1 year follow-up. The aesthetic outcome was satisfactory in all patients with no change in the complication rate. CONCLUSIONS: This simple surgical trick has been shown to be safe and effective in optimising the aesthetic outcome in a patient undergoing NAC sparing mastectomy and immediate one-stage prosthetic reconstruction. Level IV: evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention, such as case studies. Dramatic results in uncontrolled trials might also be regarded as this type of evidence.

Therapeutic effect of hyaluronic acid in reducing nasal mucosa recovery time after septoplasty.

Mucociliary clearance represents a host defense mechanism of airways that can be compromised by various pathologic conditions, such as nasal septal deviation. Although septoplasty can resolve obstruction, it impairs mucociliary clearance in the immediate postoperative period. Clinical studies have demonstrated how hyaluronic acid can interfere with this function. Our study aims to provide evidence of a therapeutic effect of hyaluronic acid on nasal mucosa recovery after septoplasy. Sixty-five patients underwent septoplasty. On postoperative day 1, patients were randomized to a control arm that was treated with mupirocin ointment or an experimental arm that received additional treatment with sodium hyaluronate solution. Pre- and postoperatively, anterior rhinoscopy was performed to analyze mucosal status, and mucociliary clearance was measured by using the saccharin transit time (STT) method. The t test was used for independent groups. During the preoperative evaluation, we observed a significant difference in STT between the convex and concave side in both groups. Fifteen days after surgery, we observed a significant difference preoperatively to postoperatively for both the convex and the concave side (p < 0.02 and p < 0.008, respectively). One month after surgery, we observed a reduction of STT when comparing preoperative control group values and, after 1 month, postoperative values in both sides (p < 0.015 and p < 0.005, convex and concave side, respectively). Our results show a significant reduction of the STT for both nasal sides as soon as 15 days after septoplasty in patients randomized to additional treatment. Our experience provides further evidence for the therapeutic effect of hyaluronic acid in accelerating nasal mucosa recovery after septoplasty.

The Prevalence of Tuberous/Constricted Breast Deformity in Population and in Breast Augmentation and Reduction Mammaplasty Patients.

BACKGROUND: The exact prevalence of tuberous breast deformity (TBD) has not been properly investigated and still remains undetermined. We report our data about TBD prevalence with the aim of demonstrating its high prevalence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on preoperative photographs of 1600 Caucasian female patients admitted to our department from January 2009 to July 2014 for augmentation or reduction mammaplasty and other breast clinical conditions. The main features of TBD included a contracted skin envelope, a reduction in breast parenchyma of the lower medial and lateral quadrants, a constricted breast base, abnormal elevation of the inframammary fold, herniation of the breast into the areola with a constricted breast base, and nipple areola complex herniation with a normal breast base. Patients were classified into three groups: breast augmentation group (AUG group), breast reduction group (RED group), and general population group (POP group). RESULTS: Four hundred patients were analyzed for each group (AUG and RED group); 194 patients (48.5 %) and 189 cases (47.3 %), respectively, demonstrated at least one tuberous breast deformity; in 800 patients of the POP group, we found 221 patients (27.6 %) with at least one tuberous breast deformity. CONCLUSIONS: Retrospective analysis reveals a high prevalence of TBD in the general population and in particular in women seeking breast augmentation or breast reduction (about 50 %). TBD is characterized by a wide range of clinical features with a spectrum of degrees. Preoperative evaluation is crucial to achieve an optimum outcome and patient satisfaction. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE II: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .