Scalding saline injuries: Preventing a rare but serious event in medical litigation.

This study aimed to investigate the causes, outcomes, and compensation amounts of saline-induced perioperative burns, a rare but entirely preventable event. Saline-induced burns pose a significant risk to patients, and understanding the factors associated with such incidents is crucial for improving patient safety. Previous studies highlighted the use of hot saline bags and solution during medical procedures as a potential cause of these burns. A retrospective analysis of cases involving perioperative saline-induced burns was conducted using the Westlaw and Lexis Nexis legal databases. Eight relevant cases were identified and analyzed to determine the causes, outcomes, and compensation amounts. Hot saline bags used for positioning and hot saline solution were identified as the primary causes of saline-induced burns. Out of the eight cases analyzed, four resulted in a favorable verdict for the plaintiff, three cases were settled, and one case was in favor of the defense. Compensation amounts ranged from no monetary compensation to over one million dollars. This study highlights the need for increased awareness among medical professionals regarding the risks associated with saline-induced burns, and the importance of implementing guidelines for the safe use of hot saline bags and solution. Together these measures can hopefully mitigate the occurrence of these preventable incidents, improve patient safety, and reduce medicolegal exposure.

Contextualizing the Impact of Pop Culture on Breast Implant Illness and its Medical Relevance.

INTRODUCTION: Despite a lack of data demonstrating causation, there is growing concern over breast implants and systemic illness. This study examines the impact of rising public interest in breast implant illness (BII) and its implications on breast implant removals (BIR). METHODS: A Google Trends (GT) analysis of each year between 2010 and 2022 was performed globally, and then separately for the United States alone (US), using the search terms "capsular contracture," "breast implant illness," and "breast implant(s) removal". Linear regression was performed to determine significant correlations. Data on BII-related Facebook advocacy groups, relevant pop culture events, numbers of BIR surgeries, and number of BII-related publications were collected and analyzed alongside GT data to determine relevance. RESULTS: For global GT, there was a significant relationship between "breast implant illness" and "breast implant(s) removal" in 2016 (R2=0.62, ß =0.33, p<0.01), 2020 (R2=0.53, ß =0.23, p=0.01), and 2022 (R2=0.60, ß =0.44, p=0.01). In the US, 2016 (R2=0.53, ß =1.75, p=0.01) 2018 (R2=0.61, ß =1.93, p<0.01) and 2020 (R2=0.72, ß=0.91, p<0.01) were significant. In 2020, "capsular contracture" and "breast implant(s) removal" was significant in the US (R2=0.58, ß=0.4, p=0.01). In 2016, Facebook was the platform for the largest BII advocacy group and in 2020 YouTube was the platform for the first BII documentary and TEDx talk. From 2010 to 2020, PubMed publications containing "ASIA" and "BII" increased 24-fold and ASPS reports on BIR rose 70%. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that BII is a topic of global concern and has implications on both academic medicine and clinical practice. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V: 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 .

Preoperative planning using virtual reality and computed tomography angiogram in deep inferior epigastric perforator flap breast reconstruction.

The gold standard for preoperative planning of deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction uses computed tomography angiography (CTA). Virtual reality (VR) circumnavigates the limitations of CTA by reconstructing a fully immersive and interactive 3D representation of the scan. Scans of 44 patients who underwent DIEP flap breast reconstruction were retrospectively reviewed and compared using CTA and VR imaging modalities. The objective of this research was to compare perforators found using VR to the ones identified using conventional CTA. A correlation was found between the imaging modalities for unilateral (R = 0.96 (CI = 0.92, 0.98)) and bilateral (R = 0.93, (CI = 0.83, 0.97)) DIEP flap surgeries when comparing perforator location related to the umbilicus. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression found that higher intramuscular course length (IMC) is associated with the number of perforators found per side (OR = 1.79 (CI = 1.24, 2.6)), and medial location (OR = 2.85 (CI = 1.38, 5.87)). Larger vessel caliber (VC) is associated with shorter IMC (T2 vs. T3, OR = 3.34 (CI = 1.49, 7.49)), and branching in adipose tissue (AB) is associated with higher VC (T1 vs. T3, OR = 0.02 (CI = 0.007, 0.08); T2 vs. T3, OR = 0.24 (CI = 0.11, 0.55)). Overall, preoperative planning using VR was easy to use, safe, more intuitive, and provided in a time-efficient manner, more information about perforant characteristics. VR can improve the surgeon's decision accuracy, relating to the best perforators for harvesting, in a shorter time period.

NEXMIF/KIDLIA Knock-out Mouse Demonstrates Autism-Like Behaviors, Memory Deficits, and Impairments in Synapse Formation and Function.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disability that demonstrates impaired social interactions, communication deficits, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors. ASD has a strong genetic basis and many ASD-associated genes have been discovered thus far. Our previous work has shown that loss of expression of the X-linked gene NEXMIF/KIDLIA is implicated in patients with autistic features and intellectual disability (ID). To further determine the causal role of the gene in the disorder, and to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology, we have generated a NEXMIF knock-out (KO) mouse. We find that male NEXMIF KO mice demonstrate reduced sociability and communication, elevated repetitive grooming behavior, and deficits in learning and memory. Loss of NEXMIF/KIDLIA expression results in a significant decrease in synapse density and synaptic protein expression. Consistently, male KO animals show aberrant synaptic function as measured by excitatory miniatures and postsynaptic currents in the hippocampus. These findings indicate that NEXMIF KO mice recapitulate the phenotypes of the human disorder. The NEXMIF KO mouse model will be a valuable tool for studying the complex mechanisms involved in ASD and for the development of novel therapeutics for this disorder.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by behavioral phenotypes. Based on our previous work, which indicated the loss of NEXMIF/KIDLIA was associated with ASD, we generated NEXMIF knock-out (KO) mice. The NEXMIF KO mice demonstrate autism-like behaviors including deficits in social interaction, increased repetitive self-grooming, and impairments in communication and in learning and memory. The KO neurons show reduced synapse density and a suppression in synaptic transmission, indicating a role for NEXMIF in regulating synapse development and function. The NEXMIF KO mouse faithfully recapitulates the human disorder, and thus serves as an animal model for future investigation of the NEXMIF-dependent neurodevelopmental disorders.