Three-dimensional Analysis of Factors Related to the Effective Alveolar Molding in Presurgical Infant Orthopedics: Findings From a Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: Presurgical infant orthopedics (PIO) reduces the severity of the original cleft and burden on patients and their parents, provides better esthetics and function, and enables surgeons to achieve better surgical repair. To reduce the alveolar cleft width and to predict treatment difficulty using PIO, various measures were examined in pretreatment cast models. DESIGN: Retrospective case-control pilot study. PATIENTS: The patients were 22 infants with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), and cast models of these infants were used. METHODS: After PIO using passive plates, infants with UCLP were divided into two groups: contact group (12 cases with close proximity of the greater and lesser segments) and non-contact group (10 cases without proximity of segments). The two groups were compared, and variables related to the proximity between alveolar clefts were examined. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in age at PIO initiation between the two groups. However, the treatment duration was significantly longer in the non-contact group than in the contact group. Among the 13 variables, the initial lateral deviation of the nasal septum was significantly larger in the contact group than in the non-contact group. A significant positive correlation was observed between the initial lateral deviation of the nasal septum and reduction of the alveolar cleft width by PIO. CONCLUSION: Initial lateral deviation of the nasal septum is a predictive factor for the proximity between alveolar segments in infants with UCLP at the PIO.

Regeneration in Experimental Alveolar Bone Defect Using Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Cleft lip and palate is a congenital disorder including cleft lip, and/or cleft palate, and/or alveolar cleft, with high incidence.The alveolar cleft causes morphological and functional abnormalities. To obtain bone bridge formation and continuous structure between alveolar clefts, surgical interventions are performed from infancy to childhood. However, desirable bone bridge formation is not obtained in many cases. Regenerative medicine using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is expected to be a useful strategy to obtain sufficient bone bridge formation between alveolar clefts. In this study, we examined the effect of human umbilical cord-derived MSCs by transplantation into a rat experimental alveolar cleft model. Human umbilical cords were digested enzymatically and the isolated cells were collected (UC-EZ cells). Next, CD146-positive cells were enriched from UC-EZ cells by magnetic-activated cell sorting (UC-MACS cells). UC-EZ and UC-MACS cells showed MSC gene/protein expression, in vitro. Both cells had multipotency and could differentiate to osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages under the differentiation-inducing media. However, UC-EZ cells lacked Sox2 expression and showed the lower ratio of MSCs than UC-MACS cells. Thus, UC-MACS cells were transplanted with hydroxyapatite and collagen (HA + Col) into alveolar cleft model to evaluate bone formation in vivo. The results of micro computed tomography and histological staining showed that UC-MACS cells with HA + Col induced more abundant bone formation between the experimental alveolar clefts than HA + Col implantation only. Cells immunopositive for osteopontin were accumulated along the bone surface and some of them were embedded in the bone. Cells immunopositive for human-specific mitochondria were aligned along the newly formed bone surface and in the new bone, suggesting that UC-MACS cells contributed to the bone bridge formation between alveolar clefts. These findings indicate that human umbilical cords are reliable bioresource and UC-MACS cells are useful for the alveolar cleft regeneration.

Video recording study of infants undergoing primary cheiloplasty: are arm restraints really needed?

OBJECTIVE: Arm restraints are traditionally used during the perioperative period for cleft surgery to prevent the affected infant from damaging the wound, but the benefits of this standard practice have been controversial. To investigate whether the use of arm restraints provides any benefit to the patient, a video recording study of infants undergoing primary cheiloplasty was conducted. DESIGN: Analysis of video recordings of infants undergoing cheiloplasty. SETTING: Shizuoka Children's Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eight patients who underwent primary cheiloplasty were recorded for 24 hours on the day before the operation, the day of the operation, and the fourth postoperative day. All recordings were examined by the first author, and the frequency and manner of lip touching were evaluated. RESULTS: Although the frequency of touching varied considerably from 2 to 136 times per 24 hours, it was not statistically different among the 3 recording days (Friedman test, p > .05). All infants touched their lips softly and never attempted to manipulate or scratch their wound. None of the patients pinched the stitches or adhesive tape on the wound with their hands. CONCLUSIONS: Although the examined infants touched their lips, they never touched them in a manner that would be harmful to the wound. We concluded that arm restraints are unnecessary after primary cheiloplasty if the procedure is performed before the age of 3 or 4 months.

Wavy line closure for revision of abdominal scars with suture marks in children.

Although various methods are available to treat scars, it is difficult to manage those with suture marks that look like fish-bones, mainly because a large amount of tissue between the suture marks must be discarded with the scar. We report the wavy line closure for revision of abdominal scars with suture marks in three children who were operated on for congenital abdominal diseases. The entire scar, including all the suture marks, was excised using an incision consisting of a pair of smoothly waved lines. This incision makes it possible to reduce the tension on the wound by preserving the normal skin between the suture marks, which is followed by fine scars. The resulting wave-shaped scar is less noticeable and more resistant to postoperative contracture than a straight scar.

Surgical correction for curly toe using open tenotomy of flexor digitorum brevis tendon.

Curly toe is a common congenital deformity characterized by flexion and varus deformity of the interphalangeal joints. Because this minor deformity is seldom accompanied with any symptoms, treatment strategy has rarely been discussed in detail in the literature. Eight toes in seven patients with curly toe were treated by open tenotomy of the medial slip of the flexor digitorum brevis tendon. If sufficient correction was not obtained, the collateral ligament and the volar plate of the proximal interphalangeal joint were dissected. The skin defect at the plantar base of the toe was covered using a local flap or a full-thickness skin graft. The median age at operation was 2 years 6 months (ranged from 8 months to 5 years 4 months). In all cases, contracture of the plantar skin at the base of the toe and tight FDB tendon were recognized to a variable degree. Postoperatively, overlapping of the affected toe was corrected in every case at a median follow-up of 2 years 9 months. However, flexion and/or varus deformity tended to remain to some degree in those patients with severe curly toe. Toes with moderate to severe deformity with overlapping beneath the adjacent toe are candidates for surgical correction, because spontaneous correction is unlikely and troublesome symptoms may occur as the child grows older. Surgical correction should be performed until 2-3 years of age. The postoperative result might be poor, if treated in the older age, because skeletal deformity is likely to occur. Open tenotomy of the FDB tendon is easy to perform, and toe function was seldom impaired.

Two cases of Tessier no. 4 cleft with anophthalmia.

OBJECTIVE: Tessier no. 4 cleft is a very rare craniofacial anomaly, and the primary surgical procedure has not been definitely standardized. The cheek advancement flap, technique, which was first reported by Van der Meulen (1985), has produced cosmetically favorable results. In this report, two cases with Tessier no. 4 cleft, which were treated with the cheek advancement flap technique, are presented. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: The first case was unilateral and the second was bilateral, and both were accompanied with anophthalmia on the cleft side. At the primary operation, dissection of the nasal soft tissue, medial canthopexy, and reconstruction of the lower eyelid and conjunctival fornix were performed. Cleft lip was repaired according to the rotation-advancement procedure. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative appearances were acceptable in both cases, because the resulting scars were made along the esthetic facial units. However, the soft tissue deficiency of the lower eyelid was prominent. Furthermore, in the unilateral case, caudal displacement of the palpebral fissure and cephalic deviation of the nasal ala was recognized.

Hemangiomas in the face and extremities: MR-guided sclerotherapy--optimization with monitoring of signal intensity changes in vivo.

The feasibility of a method of magnetic resonance (MR)-guided sclerotherapy for hemangioma was evaluated. The distribution of a test injection and a contiguous sclerosant injection was monitored clearly with MR fluoroscopy. Postsclerotherapy T2-weighted MR images depicted areas with and those without effective sclerosant concentration, which enabled performance of selective supplemental sclerotherapy. This method of MR-guided sclerotherapy seems feasible for clinical application.