Journal Reviews
Microvascular free flap failures – looking beyond surgical technique
Microvascular free flaps are commonly used in reconstruction for head and neck defects. Failures of these flaps, however, are associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Flap failures within the first 72 hours are commonly attributed to technical failure of...
Learning from reimplantation
The Irish implant centre in Dublin undertook a retrospective study of their reimplantation cases to look at what lessons could be learnt. Device failures fall into two classes: hard and soft failures. Hard failures are implant malfunction or altered performance....
Is medical therapy without surgical treatment sufficient in treating peritonsillar abscess?
Standard treatment of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) has typically involved both medical therapy and surgical drainage either in the form of needle aspiration, or incision and drainage. However, is medical without surgical treatment sufficient? The authors suggest that medical therapy without...
Risk factors in free flap failure
This is a retrospective analysis from China of 881 free flaps over nearly four years, 49 of which were ‘taken back’, 26 of which were lost, giving a 97% success rate. The commonest cause of flap failure was venous thrombosis....
