Search

Mastectomy rates have increased, coinciding with more advanced reconstruction options. Deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flaps decrease abdominal donor site morbidity, but require considerable technical expertise. Preoperative computed tomography angiography (CTA) can accurately demonstrate DIEA anatomy and perforator courses, facilitating preoperative planning and flap design, allowing for more targeted intraoperative microdissection. Patients who undergo CTA before DIEP flap have better clinical outcomes with shorter operative times and hospital length of stay, which can decrease overall associated health care costs. Future directions include selected imaging of the thoracic anatomy and recipient vasculature, allowing for additional preoperative planning and customization.

This chapter in the edited collection, Transitions in Caribbean Law, explores the first major decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its appellate jurisdiction, Attorney General of Barbados v Joseph, and its expansive read of the right to the protection of the law as an aspect of the rule of law. In that 2006 case, the CCJ spoke of an inherent jurisdiction in the courts to give effect to the right to the protection of the law. It examines the development of unwritten constitutional norms in Caribbean constitutional law, particularly in the early Privy Council decision of R v Hinds on separation of powers. Despite the dubious distinction made between ‘exhaustive’ and ‘inexhaustive’ rights in the Caribbean constitutions by the CCJ, Robinson concludes that the Joseph is an important contribution to the notion that the rule of law is an unwritten constitution norm in the Anglophone Caribbean.