Spiral Wrap-Around Technique in the Reverse Radial Artery Fasciocutaneous Forearm Flap for Thumb Reconstruction: A Report of An Innovative Technique.

For amputation of the thumb in any age group, microsurgical replantation is the gold standard over other osteoplastic thumb reconstruction methods as it restores the form, function, and cosmesis of the thumb better. In the osteoplastic reconstruction of the thumb, usually, a pedicled groin flap or a reverse radial artery forearm flap is used to provide the soft tissue cover, and each of these flaps has its own set of merits and demerits. The reverse radial artery forearm flap can be used as a fascial or fasciocutaneous flap in an islanded or peninsular form. Using it as a fasciocutaneous forearm flap creates a donor site secondary defect that needs skin grafting, leading to an unsightly permanent cosmetic deformity in the forearm. We report a case of a 25-year-old male patient who underwent post-traumatic near-total thumb amputation following a crush avulsion injury in whom revascularization failed, and we successfully performed osteoplastic thumb reconstruction using the same phalanges as skeletal support and the reverse radial forearm flap as soft tissue cover. We devised a novel but simple spiral wrap-around technique in the reverse pedicled fasciocutaneous flap by rearranging the dimensions, changing the length-to-width ratio to 5:1, and then wrapping this strip of flap spiraling around the bony skeleton with primary closure of the donor site.

Effect of obesity on academic grades among Saudi female medical students at College of Medicine, King Saud University: Pilot study.

The aim was to investigate the effect of obesity on academic grades among Saudi female medical students. This cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Plastic Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period November 2014 to June 2015. In all 191 second and third year female medical students with an average age of 21.31 years and body mass indices 15-40 were included. An English language questionnaire was established to obtain the information about age, gender, body mass index, level of study and the academic grades [Grade Point Average-GPA]. Female medical students with BMI 21-25 and 26-30 achieved high GPA while female medical students with higher BMI 31-35 and greater than 36 obtained low GPA. High BMI in female medical students impair the academic performance. The academic institutes must establish extra-curricular physical fitness policies to minimize the obesity and achieve better health and academic outcomes.

Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the association of "ABO" and "Rhesus" blood groups with incidence of breast cancer. METHODS: In this study, we identified 70 research documents from data based search engines including "PubMed", "ISI-Web of Knowledge", "Embase" and "Google Scholar". The research papers were selected by using the primary key-terms including "ABO blood type", "Rhesus" blood type and "breast cancer". The research documents in which "ABO" and "Rhesus" blood types and breast cancer was debated were included. After screening, we reviewed 32 papers and finally we selected 25 research papers which met the inclusion criteria and remaining documents were excluded. RESULTS: Blood group "A" has high incidence of breast cancer (45.88%), blood group "O" has (31.69%); "B" (16.16%) and blood group "AB" has (6.27%) incidence of breast cancer. Blood group "A" has highest and blood group "AB" has least association with breast cancer. Furthermore, "Rhesus +ve" blood group has high incidence of breast cancer (88.31%) and "Rhesus -ve" blood group has least association with breast cancer (11.68%). CONCLUSION: Blood group "A" and "Rhesus +ve" have high risk of breast cancer, while blood type "AB" and "Rhesus -ve" are at low peril of breast cancer. Physicians should carefully monitor the females with blood group "A" and "Rh +ve" as these females are more prone to develop breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer incidence and its burden, preventive and screening programs for breast cancer especially in young women are highly recommended.