Conception and use of a custom-made facial mask for pressure therapy in complex facial wounds.

Pressure therapy (PT) is commonly used to manage hypertrophic scars. It is often based on the use of elastic pressure garments, which are poorly suited for a facial localization. We describe the conception, fabrication, and use of a custom-made PT facial mask for primary prevention of hypertrophic scarring of complex facial wounds. The main advantage of the device is that it is quick and easy to manufacture in a conventional prosthetics laboratory, with a good level of observance and tolerance in our experience of 20 treated patients.

About a pediatric facial trauma.

Less-lethal weapon are more and more used in law enforcement to neutralize combative individuals and to disperse riot crowds. Even if this type of weapon has been created to be less damaging than classical firearms, it has been incriminated many times in cases of facial injuries with functional consequences, even death. In many countries, these guns can be possessed by average citizens. They could be extremely harmful when handled by inexperienced users and cannot be considered solely as defense weapons. Interestingly, little literature is available concerning facial injuries caused by the less-lethal weapons. We report the case of a ballistic wound on a 3-year-old child.

Review article: antitumoural immunity in colorectal cancer - current and potential future implications in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: Most of the current research in gastrointestinal oncology is focused on biology of cancer itself, but there is growing interest in the patient's immune system response and its relation with cancer cells. AIM: To review the impact of the antitumoural immune response on epidemiology, prognosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. METHODS: Search of the literature published in English using the PubMed database. RESULTS: The role of the immune system in the antitumoural immunosurveillance is clearly supported by the increased incidence of colorectal cancer and adenomatous polyps in immunosuppressed patients. Moreover, the degree of infiltration of the tumours by the immune cells has been shown to be a strong prognostic factor of both disease recurrence and survival. The immune system plays an important role in the chemotherapy-induced cell death. New therapeutic strategies targeting the antitumoural immunity are being currently investigated with promising results. CONCLUSION: Better knowledge of antitumoural immune system can have a major impact on patients' management in daily clinical practice. Colorectal cancer screening is an important issue in immunosuppressed patients, and recommendations should be refined for selected high-risk patients. The use of an immune score to guide the therapeutic strategies in the adjuvant setting should be supported. Further and larger clinical trials are necessary to accelerate the development of innovative immune therapies.