Underrepresentation of African Americans in Plastic Surgery: Examining Demographics, Specialty Factors, and Medical School Experiences.

BACKGROUND: Racial representation among medical trainees translates into physicians that are able to communicate with diverse patient populations and are perceptive to health disparities. This is important within plastic surgery where an optimal physicianpatient relationship is essential to health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to address underrepresentation of African Americans (AA) in plastic surgery through improving understanding of factors that may contribute to AA medical student interest in plastic surgery. DESIGN: This was a voluntary, cross-sectional survey. An online survey was designed to collect information on demographics, specialty factor importance, medical school experiences, and plastic surgery interest among medical students. The survey was distributed to medical students within three national medical organizations between August 2018 and February 2019. The following groups of respondents were statistically COMPARED: AAs interested vs. AAs not interested in plastic surgery and AA vs. Caucasian medical students both interested in plastic surgery. SETTING: Online survey for medical students in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: All 428 participants were medical students that belonged to at least 1 of the 3 national medical organizations between August 2018 and February 2019. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 428 participants of which 142 were excluded for incomplete surveys, leaving 286 (66.8%) participants to be included in the study. Among AA medical students, 128 (75.3%) were not interested in Plastic Surgery and 42 (24.7%) were interested. The 2 groups were similar demographically but differed significantly across multiple specialty factors and medical school experiences (p < 0.05). When compared to interested Caucasian medical students (n = 30), interested AA medical students differed significantly in demographics, specialty factors, and medical school experiences (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the implementation of medical school interventions emphasizing specialty factors and medical school experiences unique to AA medical students interested in plastic surgery to promote their application into the specialty.

Use of Absorbable Dermal Stapler in Reduction Mammoplasty: Assessing Technical, Quality-of-Life, and Aesthetics Outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Reduction mammaplasty is a mainstay in the treatment of symptomatic macromastia, with a well-described positive impact on patient quality-of-life (QoL). Absorbable dermal staplers have the potential to improve the efficiency of skin closure in reduction mammoplasties, but a more comprehensive assessment of its impact on key outcomes has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients undergoing reduction mammoplasty between November 2018 and December 2020 was conducted. Patients were included if they had undergone a wise-pattern reduction with a superomedial pedicle and completed 3 months of follow-up. Patient demographics, operative information, clinical and aesthetic outcomes, and QoL were compared between patients that had INSORB stapler-assisted and suture-only closures. RESULTS: Seventy-five patients met the inclusion criteria, with 34 patients (45%) in the stapler cohort. Total procedure time was significantly reduced with the use of the dermal stapler (stapler: 154 vs. suture: 170 minutes; p = 0.003). The incidence of major complications was similar between cohorts (stapler: 8.8% vs. suture: 12%; p = 0.64), as was the incidence of minor complications (stapler: 44% vs. suture: 41%; p = 0.82). Regardless of closure technique, patients demonstrated significant increases in all QoL domains (p <0.001). Lastly, 10 independent raters found no difference in the cosmetic appearance of breasts from either cohort, when judging overall breast appearance, shape, scars, volume and the nipple-areolar complex (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The dermal stapler improves efficiency of closure during reduction mammoplasty without increasing the incidence of wound healing complications. Additionally, cosmetic outcomes are not affected, and patients demonstrate similar post-operative satisfaction with the result regardless of closure technique.

Application of a novel suture anchor to abdominal wall closure.

BACKGROUND: Mesh suture used in high-tension wound closures produces large knots susceptible to increased palpability, infection, and foreign body response; yet has superior tensile strength and increased resistance to cutting through tissue compared to standard suture. This study investigates mesh suture fixation in abdominal tissue with a knotless novel, low-profile anchor-clip. METHODS: Single and double end fixation of mesh suture in swine rectus abdominus fascia with an anchor-clip, a knot, and predicate device fixation underwent cyclic testing followed by pull-to-failure testing. RESULTS: Failure load of standard knot, single corkscrew and double anchor-clip were not statistically different, but were significantly greater than single anchor-clip and double corkscrew fixation (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The anchor-clip is ∼60% smaller than a standard knot while maintaining fixation strength when exposed to physiologic forces using double anchor-clip fixation in abdominal wall closure.

The Utilization of Video Technology in Surgical Education: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: The use of surgical video has great potential to enhance surgical education, but there exists limited information about how to effectively use surgical videos. We performed a systematic review of video technology in surgical training and provided evidence-based recommendations for its effective use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic review of literature on surgical video in residency education was conducted. All articles meeting inclusion criteria were evaluated for technical characteristics pertaining to video usage. Included studies were critically appraised using a quality-scoring system. Recommendations were provided for the effective implementation of video in surgical education based on associations with improved training outcomes. RESULTS: Twenty articles met inclusion criteria. In these studies, the source of video acquisition was primarily laparoscopy (40.0% of papers), and the main perspective of video was endoscopy (45.0%). Features of videos included supplementation with other educational tools (55.0%), schematic diagrams or images (50.0%), audio (40.0%), and narration (25.0%). Videos were primarily viewed preoperatively (60.0%) or postoperatively (50.0%). The intended viewer for videos was usually residents (70.0%) but also included attendings/faculty (30.0%). When compared with a nonvideo training group, video training was associated with improved resident knowledge (100%), improved operative performance (81.3%), and greater participant satisfaction (100%). CONCLUSIONS: Based on this review, we recommend that surgical training programs incorporate schematics and imaging into video, supplement video with other education tools, and utilize audio in video. For video review, we recommend that residents review video preoperatively and postoperatively for learning and that attendings review video postoperatively for assessment.

Soft Tissue Anchoring Performance, Biomechanical Properties, and Tissue Reaction of a New Hernia Mesh Engineered to Address Hernia Occurrence and Recurrence.

One opportunity to reduce hernia occurrence and recurrence rates (currently estimated to be 30% at 10 years postoperatively) is by enhancing the ability of hernia meshes to anchor into tissue to prevent mesh migration, mesh contraction, and mesh tearing away from tissue. To address this, we developed a novel moderate-weight, macroporous, polypropylene mesh (termed the T-line mesh) with mesh extensions to optimize anchoring. We examined the physical properties, biomechanical performance, and biocompatibility of this novel mesh versus a predicate mesh anchored with #0-suture. The physical properties of the T-line mesh and predicate mesh were measured using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. Meshes were implanted into a swine hernia model and harvested after one day to determine anchoring strength of the meshes in the perioperative period. A separate group was implanted into a swine hernia model and harvested at 30 days and 90 days for semiquantitative histological analysis of biocompatibility. T-line mesh physical properties were similar to commonly used moderate-weight meshes in thickness and areal density. The T-line mesh outperformed the predicate mesh in all mechanical testing (P < 0.05). In the perioperative period, the T-line mesh was ∼275% stronger (P < 0.001) than the standard of care. Histological analysis of biocompatibility demonstrated no significant difference between the T-line mesh and predicate mesh (P > 0.05). The T-line mesh is a novel hernia mesh that outperforms a predicate mesh in mechanical and biomechanical performance testing while exhibiting similar biocompatibility. The T-line mesh has the potential to reduce hernia occurrence and recurrence caused by mechanical failure.

Transdifferentiation and reprogramming: Overview of the processes, their similarities and differences.

Reprogramming, or generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells (functionally similar to embryonic stem cells or ES cells) by the use of transcription factors (typically: Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, Klf4) called "Yamanaka factors" (OSKM), has revolutionized regenerative medicine. However, factors used to induce stemness are also overexpressed in cancer. Both, ES cells and iPS cells cause teratoma formation when injected to tissues. This raises a safety concern for therapies based on iPS derivates. Transdifferentiation (lineage reprogramming, or -conversion), is a process in which one mature, specialized cell type changes into another without entering a pluripotent state. This process involves an ectopic expression of transcription factors and/or other stimuli. Unlike in the case of reprogramming, tissues obtained by this method do not carry the risk of subsequent teratomagenesis.