Faculty Bibliography

Free flap transfer for soft tissue defects involving the sole of the foot have been important in limb salvage. The functional capacity of 16 patients is documented. From our data, free flaps to weightbearing surfaces of the foot give satisfactory results in patients less than 40 years old and salvage is rewarding. Older patients had less than satisfactory results. When the only alternative is an amputation, free flap salvage may still be indicated

The management of amputations is an important area of surgery of the hand and demands the same measured judgment, global perspective, and technical skill of any other reconstructive procedure. The needs of each patient are different, even when physical losses are similar. In terms of physical impairment, the bilateral hand amputee is a totally different problem than the unilateral. Logical choice requires knowledge of and consideration of all the alternatives, including prosthetic fitting potentials. As surgical procedures often are irreversible, it is important that the best master plan be devised as early as possible. Major reconstructions for the partially amputated hand and prosthetic fitting usually have a remarkably common physical goal--restoration of a simple vise mechanism. Today, this goal must include restoration of a socially acceptable presentation of the constantly exposed hands. To many patients in our mobile and competitive society, the latter will be their greater need. Both active and passive prosthetic devices are functional; they simply meet different needs and each has advantages and disadvantages. The usefulness of motorized units for unilateral amputees remains severely limited as all such devices are 'second-thought' mechanisms having no sensory feedback, an indispensable requirement for automatic control. Hand prostheses are playing an increasingly important role in the treatment of amputees. The surgeon charged with primary responsibility of care must be knowledgeable about them. With the rapid changes in our work force and the ever-increasing mobility of our society, it is unrealistic to ignore or deny that a grotesque or badly deformed hand is a serious socioeconomic liability. The needs of each patient are different, but the prosthetic needs of most patients in the future will include mechanically simple devices of socially acceptable appearance

Twenty-five patients with severe internal and external deviation of the nose characterized by deviation of the septum in several planes and almost total obstruction of the airway on one or both sides were operated on. The entire bony and cartilaginous septum was removed in each of these patients, preserving the mucoperichondrial and mucoperiosteal flaps. The extramucosal technique of septal dissection was used. A support graft was fashioned from cartilaginous remnants of the septal cartilage and placed between the mucoperichondrial flaps as a free graft. All patients were followed for a minimum of 1 year. The longest follow-up is 15 years. Aesthetic improvement of the nose was obtained in all patients. All patients experienced varying degrees of improvement in nasal blockade

A computer program is described which aids the clinician in planning craniofacial surgical procedures. It operates on a three-dimensional landmark data base derived by combining posteroanterior and lateral cephalograms from the patient and from the Bolton normative standards. A three-dimensional surgical simulation program based on computerized tomographic (CT) data is also described which can be linked to the cephalometrically based program. After the clinician has selected the number and type of osteotomies to be performed on the patient, an automated optimization program computes the postoperative positions of these fragments which best fit the appropriate normal cephalometric form. The clinician then interactively modifies the design to account for such variables as bone-graft resorption, relapse tendency, occlusal disparities, and the condition of the overlying soft-tissue matrix. Osteotomy movement specifications are easily transferred between the CT-based and the cephalometrically based surgical simulation programs. This allows the automated positioning step to be performed on the cephalometrically based model while the interactive step is performed using the superior image provided by the CT-based model

The lower border of the mandible in mandibulofacial dysostosis is characteristic of the syndrome. Evaluation of the cephalograms by means of the medial axis analysis and inflectional tangents captures the shape deformity. Morphometric data from lateral cephalograms on seven patients, ages 3 through 20 years, are reported: a total of 22 observations on three males and four females. These forms were compared to normal mandibular forms from the University of Michigan University School Study. The curvature of the gonial angle in the study population is not distinguishable from the normal curvature. Relative to this apparently normal region, there is a marked downward displacement of the symphysis that results in the curvature typical of the lower mandibular border in this syndrome. These findings are not consistent with earlier reports

The blood supply to 13 potential vascularized donor nerve grafts was examined by 241 cadaveric dissections. Results reveal a new classification of nerve blood supply that helps identify six of the 13 nerves as potential donor vascularized nerve grafts (anterior tibial, saphenous, superficial peroneal, superficial radial, ulnar, and sural nerves). These six nerves were then further investigated with injection studies, revealing that long lengths of the nerves may survive on the intrinsic supply alone. Extensive measurements were completed on the six nerves and corresponding blood supply. The surgical anatomy and clinical application of these donor nerves are reviewed. Each nerve was then evaluated in terms of new criteria developed for the ideal donor vascularized nerve graft. The saphenous nerve is believed to be best suited as a donor vascularized nerve graft. Finally, a new method is proposed for forming cable grafts from segments of vascularized nerve grafts that are supplied solely by the intrinsic blood supply