Coverage of a Firecracker Blast Injury of the Right Hand With a Chest Wall Flap Under Wide Awake Local Anaesthesia no Tourniquet Technique.

A flap is done to cover expose structures such as bone, tendon and ligament. Chest wall flaps are usually performed under general anaesthesia due to a fairly large area of surgery and at two different sites which are the chest and the hand. This is the first known reported case of a chest wall flap for coverage of the hand under Wide awake local anaesthesia no tourniquet technique (WALANT). We here report the case of a 32-year-old man who had a firecracker injury over his right hand with bone exposed in his right index and middle finger and distal amputation of the thumb with first carpometacarpal joint dislocation. Chest wall flap reconstruction for coverage of a severe blast injury in the hand is possible and safe under WALANT. The proper technique and administration will lead to a successful surgery without general anesthesia complications and risks. This alternative option may be useful in districts or smaller hospitals where resources are limited.

A prospective study evaluating wound healing with sea cucumber gel compared with hydrogel in treatment of skin graft donor sites.

BACKGROUND: Gamat (sea-cucumber) is a natural occurring fauna which is popularly used as traditional medication in Southeast Asian countries. There have been many animal studies done on its' biochemical properties and its' effects in vivo. The effect of gamat on human cutaneous wounds was studied using a split-skin graft donor site wound. METHODS: This was a comparative case-control study done on patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM), requiring split-thickness skin grafting, whereby, the skin graft donor site was divided to almost equal halves, and applied with both gamat-based gel on one side, with Duoderm® hydrogel on the other side. The epithelialization of the wounds was observed and compared on days 10, 14 and 21. Pain score, and pruritus score were also observed. Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and Paired t-test was used to test statistical significance accordingly. RESULTS: No significant differences were seen in rates of epithelialization of wounds on days 10, 14 and 21 (p > 0.01). No significant difference was also seen in the pain score and pruritus score (p > 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A gamat-based gel is comparable to conventional hydrogels in treatment of split-skin graft donor site. No adverse effects were observed in either group.