The reverse sural fasciocutaneous flap for the treatment of traumatic, infectious or diabetic foot and ankle wounds: A retrospective review of 16 patients

The authors present their experience with the use of sural fasciocutaneous flaps for the treatment of various soft tissue defects in the lower limb. This paper is a review of these flaps carried out between 2003 and 2008. The series consists of 16 patients, 11 men and 5 women with an average age of 41 years (17-81) and with a follow-up period between 2 and 7 years. The etiology was major velocity accident in six cases, diabetes mellitus with osteomyelitis after ORIF for fractures (2), work accident in five, and another two cases with complications of lower limb injuries. The defect areas were located on calcaneus, malleolar area, tarsal area and lower tibia. Associated risk factors in the patients for the flap performance were diabetes (five patients) and cigarette smoking (ten patients)

Combining regenerative medicine strategies to provide durable reconstructive options: auricular cartilage tissue engineering

Recent advances in regenerative medicine place us in a unique position to improve the quality of engineered tissue. We use auricular cartilage as an exemplar to illustrate how the use of tissue-specific adult stem cells, assembly through additive manufacturing and improved understanding of postnatal tissue maturation will allow us to more accurately replicate native tissue anisotropy. This review highlights the limitations of autologous auricular reconstruction, including donor site morbidity, technical considerations and long-term complications. Current tissue-engineered auricular constructs implanted into immune-competent animal models have been observed to undergo inflammation, fibrosis, foreign body reaction, calcification and degradation. Combining biomimetic regenerative medicine strategies will allow us to improve tissue-engineered auricular cartilage with respect to biochemical composition and functionality, as well as microstructural organization and overall shape. Creating functional and durable tissue has the potential to shift the paradigm in reconstructive surgery by obviating the need for donor sites