Maggot therapy for repairing serious infective wound in a severely burned patient.

The larvae of musca domestica were put in use to discard the dead tissue of a case of severe burn. A total of 50 000 aseptic maggots were put onto the infective wound surface, and aseptic dressings overlaid the surface. Three days later, another 20 000 maggots were put onto the wound for the second therapy. After twice maggot debridement, most necrotic muscle tissues of the wound were cleaned up, and eventually fresh granulation tissue grew and later the wound was covered and healed by 3 times of skin grafting. The result demonstrates that maggot therapy is safe and effective with no adverse complications except pain.

[Oral propranolol in the management of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy and safety of oral propranolol in the treatment of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma. METHODS: A retrospective review of patient medical records was performed. 12 patients (9 female, 3 male; 1.5-8.5 months, average 3.3 months) with periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma underwent oral propranolol therapy. The dosage was slowly increased to 2 mg/kg daily in divided doses for a mean duration of 16 weeks (range 4 weeks-41 weeks). Therapeutic outcomes and safety were established by evaluating colour, size of lesion, duration of treatment and side-effects of treatment before and after treatment. RESULTS: Of these, 9 had a signification reduction in colour and size of the lesions, 2 had no further growth. 1 is stopped therapy due to hypotension after drug administration. 11 other patients, although mild adverse effects were noted, no symptoms were severe enough to discontinue treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Propranolol appears to be a safe and effective treatment in the management of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma.