Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis of Water Reduction in Lower-Limb Lymphedema by Lymphaticovenular Anastomosis.

BACKGROUND: Although lymphedema is fundamentally abnormal accumulation of excess water in the extracellular space, previous studies have evaluated the efficacy of physiological bypass surgery (lymphaticovenular anastomosis [LVA]) for lymphedema without measuring water volume. This study clarified the water reductive effect of LVA using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). METHODS: The efficacy of LVA for unilateral lower-limb lymphedema was evaluated using BIA in a retrospective cohort. The water volume of affected and unaffected legs was measured using multifrequency BIA before and after LVA. Preoperative measurements were undertaken after compression therapy for at least 3 months. The follow-up period after LVA was a minimum of 6 months. RESULTS: Thirty consecutive patients with unilateral lower-limb lymphedema were enrolled. The mean water volume reduction of the affected leg by LVA (ΔLBW) was 0.86 L (standard deviation [SD]: 0.86, median: 0.65) with a mean number of 3.3 anastomoses (SD: 1.7). The mean reduction rate of edema was 45.1% (SD: 36.3). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed water volume difference between the affected and unaffected legs before LVA (excess LBW) as the strongest predictor of ΔLBW (R 2 = 0.759, p < 0.01; ß = 0.500, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The LVA reduces the volume of accumulated body water in lower-limb lymphedema. As excess LBW most strongly predicted the amount of water volume reduction by LVA, body water volume measurement by BIA before LVA might identify patients with low excess LBW not expected to benefit from LVA, regardless of apparent differences in limb circumference.

Longitudinal slit procedure in addition to negative pressure wound therapy for a refractory wound with exposed achilles tendon.

OBJECTIVE: This case report reviews features of negative pressure wound therapy, particularly for the exposed Achilles tendon, and describes an additional effective procedure. METHODS: An 87-year-old man presented with a soft-tissue defect measuring 3×5 cm with the exposed Achilles tendon as a sequela of deep burn. The condition of his affected leg was ischemic because of arteriosclerosis. We used negative pressure wound therapy and made 2 longitudinal slits penetrating the tendon to induce blood flow from the ventral side to the dorsal surface. RESULTS: By this combination therapy, the surface of the exposed Achilles tendon was completely epithelialized and the tendon was spared without disuse syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that this combination therapy is useful for covering the widely exposed tendon in aged patients.

Electromyographic comparison of forearm muscle movements for fine skin suturing between an enlarged pen needle holder and a webster needle holder.

BACKGROUND: For surgical suturing, a Webster needle holder uses wrist supinating with supinator and extrinsic muscles, whereas a pen needle holder uses finger twisting with intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. Because the latter is better suited to microsurgery, which requires fine suturing with less forearm muscle movement, we have recently adopted an enlarged pen needle holder scaled from a micro needle holder for fine skin suturing. In this study, we assessed whether the enlarged pen needle holder reduced forearm muscle movement during fine skin suturing as compared with the Webster needle holder. METHODS: A fine skin-suturing task was performed using pen holding with the enlarged micro needle holder or scissor holding with the Webster needle holder by 9 experienced and 6 inexperienced microsurgeons. The task lasted for 60 seconds and was randomly performed 3 times for each method. Forearm flexor and extensor muscular activities were evaluated by surface electromyography. RESULTS: The enlarged pen needle holder method required significantly less forearm muscle movement for experienced microsurgeons despite it being their first time using the instrument. There was no significant difference between 2 methods for inexperienced microsurgeons. CONCLUSIONS: Experienced microsurgeons conserved forearm muscle movement by finger twisting in fine skin suturing with the enlarged pen needle holder. Inexperienced microsurgeons may benefit from the enlarged pen needle holder, even for fine skin suturing, to develop their internal acquisition model of the dynamics of finger twisting.