Reverse on-top plasty in mutilating hand injuries.

For crushing injury of the hand that involves 4-digit amputations sparing the thumb, lengthening of amputated stump and covering the defect are important for hand function. From March 2007 to September 2011, the authors performed "reverse on-top plasty" in 5 patients. The fifth metacarpal bone was disarticulated, turned over 180 degrees, and embedded in reverse direction so that the metacarpal base becomes the tip of new finger. Soft tissue defects were covered using anterolateral thigh free flap or reverse radial forearm flap. The mean follow-up period was 21.2 months, and major complications such as bony resorption did not occur. Static 2-point discrimination showed fair recovery of fingertip sense. Key pinch power was 76.4% of the uninjured hand. In conclusion, reverse on-top plasty is good in gaining more sufficient finger length and durability using cartilaginous portion of the fifth metacarpal bone than the previously used on-top plasty.

Peripheral osteoma on the buccal aspect of mandible angle: a review of radiopaque masses and differential diagnosis.

Osteomas are radiopaque osteogenic tumors composed of slow-growing, painless, mature bone tissue. On the basis of their origin, they can be classified as central, peripheral, or extraskeletal. Osteomas occur primarily in the craniofacial region, and peripheral osteomas are most prevalent in the paranasal sinuses. We describe a rare case of peripheral osteoma on the buccal aspect of the left mandibular angle that caused facial deformity in a 68-year-old woman. We also discuss its differentiation from other similar radiologically radiopaque masses.

A study on the genetic inheritance of ankyloglossia based on pedigree analysis.

BACKGROUND: Ankyloglossia or tongue-tie is a congenital anomaly characterized by an abnormally short lingual frenum. Its prevalence in the newborn population is approximately 4%. Its mode of inheritance has been studied in some articles, but no conclusion has been established. Also, no relevant report has been published in Korea. This study was conducted to elucidate the genetic inheritance of ankyloglossia via pedigree analysis. METHODS: In this study, 149 patients with no other congenital anomaly who underwent frenuloplasty between March 2001 and March 2010 were studied. Pedigrees were made via pre- or post-operative history taking, and patients with uncertain histories were excluded. In the patient group that showed a hereditary nature, the male-to-female ratio, inheritance rate, and pattern of inheritance were investigated. RESULTS: One hundred (67.11%) of the patients were male and 49 (32.89%) were female (male-female ratio=2.04:1). Ninety-one (61.07%) patients reported no other relative with ankyloglossia, and 58 (38.93%) patients had a relative with this disease. The inheritance rate was 20.69% in the 58 cases with a hereditary nature. In the group with no family history of ankyloglossia, the male-female ratio was 3.79:1, which significantly differed from that of the group with a family history of ankyloglossia. X-chromosome mediated inheritance and variation in the gene expression was revealed in the pedigree drawn for the groups with hereditary ankyloglossia. CONCLUSIONS: Ankyloglossia has a significant hereditary nature. Our data suggest X-linked inheritance. This study with 149 patients, the first in Korea, showed X-linked inheritance in patients with a sole anomaly.

Transaxillary subpectoral implantation of implantable pulse generator for deep brain stimulation.

OBJECTIVES: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective modality of treating cardinal motor symptoms of several movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. Although hardware-related complications of DBS have been reported, the cosmetic satisfaction and discomfort associated with infraclavicular subcutaneous implantation of the pulse generator has not been described. The authors adopted a technique of transaxillary subpectoral implantable pulse generator (IPG) placement and investigated the difference in the discomfort, cosmetic satisfaction, mean operation time for IPG implantation, and severity of postoperative pain between infraclavicular subcutaneous placement and transaxillary subpectoral implantation of IPG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 25 patients who underwent bilateral, infraclavicular subcutaneous IPG placement for DBS and 15 patients who had bilateral, transaxillary subpectoral IPG placement were investigated. RESULTS: The differences in cosmetic satisfaction and discomfort between the two groups were significant. The cosmetic satisfaction was higher and discomfort was less in the subpectoral IPG implantation group (p = 0.002 and p = 0.000). However, more time was needed for IPG implantation, and the postoperative pain was more severe after subpectoral IPG implantation (p = 0.002 and p = 0.000). There was no difference in cosmetic satisfaction according to sex (p = 0.907). There was one transient intercostobrachial nerve injury in the subpectoral IPG implantation group and two infections which needed removal of one side of the DBS hardware in the infraclavicular IPG implantation group. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated that subpectoral transaxillary IPG implantation can provide better cosmetic satisfaction in patients undergoing DBS, with less discomfort and morbidity related to erosion and infection.