Faculty Bibliography

Left-handed surgeons experience difficulty with tools designed for use in the right hand. The purpose of this study was to examine instrument laterality and to survey the experiences of left-handed plastic surgery trainees.

Photography provides a means for objective assessment and dissemination of clinical information. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) published photography guidelines in 2006 to optimize its clinical use. However, photographic documentation of outcomes in facial transplantation (FT) continues to lack standardization. We therefore appraised the current state of FT photography in the peer-reviewed literature.

Vague recommendations regarding elective surgery have been proposed by national organizations in an attempt to conserve personal protective equipment and to protect healthcare workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In response, some states have attempted to provide more clear guidance.

Patients in critical care units have a multitude of diseases and conditions that contribute to their illness and as such are susceptible to comorbid conditions such as heel pressure injuries. Prevention is a key strategy to avoid heel pressure injury occurrence. Risk factor identification can help a clinician identify those patients at risk for a heel pressure injury requiring timely prevention strategies. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness regarding the critical care patient's vulnerability to heel pressure injuries and strategies that can help avoid their occurrence or expedite their healing if occur.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a clinically heterogenous and genetically diverse disease with 22 known complementation groups (FA-A to FA-W), resulting from the inability to repair DNA interstrand crosslinks. This rare disorder is characterized by congenital defects, bone marrow failure, and cancer predisposition. FANCA is the most commonly mutated gene in FA and a variety of mostly private mutations have been documented, including small and large indels, and point and splicing variants. Genotype-phenotype associations in FA are complex and a relationship between particular FANCA variants and the observed cellular phenotype or illness severity remains unclear. In this study, we describe two siblings with compound heterozygous FANCA variants (c.3788_3790delTCT and c.4199G>A) who both presented with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma at the age of 51. The proband came to attention when he developed pancytopenia after a single cycle of low-dose chemotherapy including platinum-based therapy. Other than a minor thumb abnormality, neither patient had prior findings to suggest FA, including normal blood counts and intact fertility. Patient fibroblasts from both siblings display increased chromosomal breakage and hypersensitivity to interstrand crosslinking agents as seen in typical FA. Based on our functional data demonstrating that the c.4199G>A/p.R1400H variant represents a hypomorphic FANCA allele, we conclude that the residual activity of the Fanconi anemia repair pathway accounts for lack of spontaneous bone marrow failure or infertility with the late presentation of malignancy as the initial disease manifestation. This and similar cases of adult-onset esophageal cancer stress the need for chromosome breakage testing in patients with early onset of aerodigestive tract squamous cell carcinomas before platinum-based therapy is initiated.

While bisphosphonates are the cornerstone for management of multiple myeloma, they are associated with medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ). There are many controversies in the management of MRONJ in this patient population. In this article, we describe a representative case and, along with a literature review, we report the outcomes of our 3 cases with multiple myeloma who underwent mandible reconstruction with vascularized fibula bone grafts after segmental mandible resection for Stage 3 MRONJ over a 3-year period. All patients were male with a mean age of 59 years. All patients had undergone therapy with bisphosphonates and had no other identifiable cause of mandible osteonecrosis. All patients had pathologic mandible fractures associated with intraoral fistulae and exposed bone. Nonsurgical management was attempted in all patients. One patient also underwent debridement of the mandible without resolution of the disease. Mandible reconstruction with an osteocutaneous free fibula flap after segmental mandible resection was performed in all 3 cases without major complications or donor site morbidity. Different bacteria were isolated from the intraoperative tissue cultures in all cases. Computed tomographic imaging revealed bony union without hardware complications in all cases. Mean follow-up was 28 months. In conclusion, we demonstrated that patients with multiple myeloma and advanced MRONJ lesions of the mandible can be managed successfully and safely by segmental resection and reconstruction with vascularized fibula bone graft.

BACKGROUND:Plastic surgery education consists of technical skills, surgical decision-making, and the knowledge necessary to provide safe patient care. Competency in these modalities is ensured by requiring case minimums and oral and written examinations. However, there is a paucity of information detailing what teaching modalities residency programs use outside of the operating room. METHODS:A 16-question survey was sent to all integrated and independent program directors. Information regarding nonsurgical resident education was collected and analyzed. RESULTS:There were 44 responses (46 percent). Most programs had six to 10 faculty (43 percent), and a majority (85 percent) required faculty to participate in resident education outside of the operating room. Residents most commonly had 3 to 4 hours (43 percent) of protected educational time 1 day per week (53 percent). Nonsurgical education consisted of weekly lectures by attending physicians (44 percent) and residents (54 percent), in addition to weekly CoreQuest (48 percent), teaching rounds (38 percent), and Plastic Surgery Education Network lectures (55 percent). Monthly activities included morbidity and mortality conference (81 percent) and journal club (86 percent). Indications conference was either monthly (41 percent) or weekly (39 percent). Cadaver laboratories, visiting professors, board preparation, in-service review, and meetings with the program director occurred yearly or several times per year. Forty-nine percent of programs sponsor one educational course per resident. In addition, most programs (65 percent) do not receive outside funding for education. CONCLUSIONS:These findings improve understanding of the current state of nonsurgical resident education in plastic surgery. They illustrate that residents participate in a diverse number of nonsurgical educational activities without any significant standardization.

Industry-printed (IP) 3-dimensional (3D) models are commonly used for secondary midfacial reconstructive cases but not for acute cases due to their high cost and long turnaround time. We have begun using in-house (IH) printed models for complex unilateral midface trauma. We hypothesized that IH models would decrease cost and turnaround time, compared with IP models.