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A local pedicled vascularized bone flap can prevent the morbidity and cost of free bone flap surgery in small segmental bone defects or long cartilaginous defects of the head and neck. Such flaps can also be useful in patients who are high risk for surgery. The periosteal vascularity of the mandible can be used to design islanded facial artery-based bone flaps, which can be utilized to that extent. Two patients with a small segmental mandibulectomy defect and one patient with a long cricotracheal resection defect underwent reconstruction using three different designs of islanded facial artery osteomyomucosal/osseous flap (iFOMM). The patients had a minimum follow-up period of 18 months. All flaps were successful, with satisfactory healing and without any functional deficit or disease at last follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Human figure drawings are widely used in clinical practice as a qualitative indication of Body Representations (BRs) alterations in stroke patients. The objective of this study is to present and validate the use of a new app called QDraw for the quantitative analysis of drawings and to investigate whether this analysis can reveal distortions of BRs in chronic stroke patients., Results: QDraw has proven to generate reliable data as compared to manual scoring and in terms of inter-rater reliability, as shown by the high correlation coefficients. Moreover, human figure drawings from chronic stroke patients demonstrated a distortion of upper limb perception, as shown by a significantly higher arm length asymmetry compared to legs, whereas no difference was found in healthy controls., Conclusions: The present study supports the use of quantitative, digital methods (the QDraw app) to analyze human figure drawings as a tool to evaluate BRs distortions in stroke patients., (© 2023 The Authors.)

This article aims to illustrate various applications of facial artery-based islanded myomucosal (iFAMM) and osseous/osteo-myomucosal flaps (iFOMM) in head and neck reconstruction. A retrospective analysis of 75 patients who underwent the reconstruction of various head and neck mucosal defects with iFAMM/iFOMM in a tertiary head and neck cancer department from May 2015 to May 2019 was performed. The patients had surgery for cancer, which involved the oral tongue, floor of mouth, oropharynx, lower alveolus, larynx, hypopharynx, cricopharynx and trachea. iFOMM was used in 3 patients. Functional and esthetic outcomes, short-term and long-term complications were analyzed. The flap was successful in 74 out of 75 patients. Speech was intelligible in almost all patients and majority of patients could take oral feeds without any restrictions. The esthesis of reconstruction was scored high with a mean visual analog scale score of 8.4. The most commonly observed complication was marginal mandibular paresis, which improved with time. Mouth opening was >3 cm in 68/75 patients. Adjuvant radiation was a common factor in patients with <3 cm mouth opening. Flap was sensate by 4 months in majority of patients. The reach, pliability, and esthetics of the flap combined with recoverable morbidity of donor site present in the facial artery-based flap as a good option in the reconstruction of various head and neck subsites. Reduced operative time, lesser complication rates, less financial burden, and simplicity of the procedure make it a cost-effective alternate solution for reconstruction., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Very few cases of conservative laryngectomy in recurrent carcinoma of subglottis postradiotherapy have been reported. Technical aspects of conservative resection and reconstruction in subglottic carcinoma have not been well described., Methods: Herein, we present a case of recurrent carcinoma of subglottis for which conservative resection with adequate margins was done with endoscope assistance and defect reconstructed by buccal mucosa, conchal cartilage, and temporoparietal free flap. The technique of resection, reconstruction, complications, postoperative outcome, and our suggestions are described., Results: The lesion could be removed with wide margins. Reconstruction could preserve the voice, and deglutition was unaffected. There was no donor site-related complication. Complications were a result of the choice of the stent, which included infection and difficulty in removal., Conclusion: Selected cases of recurrent carcinoma of the subglottis can be managed by conservative resection with adequate margins and appropriate reconstruction with good functional outcomes., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: The placebo response in epilepsy randomized clinical trials (RCTs) has recently been shown to largely reflect underlying natural variability in seizure frequency. Based on this observation, we sought to explore the parameter space of RCT design to optimize trial efficiency and cost., Methods: We used one of the world's largest patient reported seizure diary databases, SeizureTracker.com to derive virtual patients for simulated RCTs. We ran 1000 randomly generated simulated trials using bootstrapping (sampling with replacement) for each unique combination of trial parameters, sweeping a large set of parameters in durations of the baseline and test periods, number of patients, eligibility criteria, drug effect size, and patient dropout. We studied the resulting trial efficiency and cost., Results: A total of 6,732,000 trials were simulated, drawing from 5097 patients in the database. We found that the strongest regression predictors of placebo response were durations of baseline and test periods. Drug effect size had a major impact on trial efficiency and cost. Dropout did not have a major impact on trial efficiency or cost. Eligibility requirements impacted trial efficiency to a limited extent. Cost was minimized while maintaining statistical integrity with very short RCT durations., Discussion: This study suggests that RCT parameters can be improved over current practice to reduce costs while maintaining statistical power. In addition, use of a large-scale population dataset in a massively parallel computing analysis allows exploration of the wider parameter space of RCT design prior to running a trial, which could help accelerate drug discovery and approval.

Background: Large soft tissue defects around the lower third of the leg, ankle and foot always have been challenging to reconstruct. Reverse sural flaps have been used for this problem with variable success. Free tissue transfer has revolutionised management of these problem wounds in selected cases., Materials and Methods: Twenty-two patients with large defects around the lower third of the leg, ankle and foot underwent reconstruction with reverse peroneal artery flap (RPAF) over a period of 7 years. The mean age of these patients was 41.2 years., Results: Of the 22 flaps, 21 showed complete survival without even marginal necrosis. One flap failed, where atherosclerotic occlusion of peroneal artery was evident on the table. Few patients had minor donor site problems that settled with conservative management., Conclusions: RPAF is a very reliable flap for the coverage of large soft tissue defects of the heel, sole and dorsum of foot. This flap adds versatility in planning and execution of this extended reverse sural flap.