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The vascularized fibular graft has been expanded to an osteoseptocutaneous flap by including a cutaneous flap on the lateral aspect of the lower leg. The cutaneous flap can serve not only for postoperative monitoring of the grafted fibula, but also as extra skin coverage to replace substantial skin defects or prevent tight closure of the wound. From anatomic studies of 20 cadaver legs and 15 clinical cases, it has been possible to demonstrate adequate circulation to the skin of the lateral aspect of the lower leg from the septocutaneous branches of the peroneal artery alone. This finding has allowed the development of a new concept and technique to elevate the fibula as an osteoseptocutaneous flap for reconstruction which provides the following advantages: Elevation of the fibular osteoseptocutaneous unit is easy and fast. The cutaneous flap of the fibular osteoseptocutaneous unit can slide almost freely while attached to the paper-thin posterior crural septum without being tethered by a bulky muscle cuff, facilitating the setting of the fibular osteocutaneous flap when the bone and skin are widely separated. Intraoperatively, in a situation in which it is necessary to change from originally selected recipient vessels to ones more suitable, the thin posterior crural septum can be folded around the fibula allowing more flexibility in choice of recipient vessels. The fibular osteoseptocutaneous flap meets the criteria outlined for composite tissue reconstruction of defects of the extremities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The trimmed-toe transfer is a new modification of the existing great-toe transfer technique for thumb reconstruction. This procedure was devised to circumvent patient concerns regarding overly large reconstructed digits following total great-toe-to-hand transfer. This technique involves reduction of both the bony and soft-tissue elements along the medial aspect of the transferred great toe in order to produce a more normal sized thumb. Follow-up of the initial 20 patients from 1983 to 1986 demonstrates good stability, grip strength, and pinch strength. Although compared with total great-toe transfer a modest reduction in joint motion of trimmed toes has been observed, the overall appearance and usefulness of the reconstructed thumbs have been excellent.

Cephalometric radiographs of a sample of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate patients (15 males, 15 females, aged 6.5 to 7.5 years) were analysed. In most cases, an adhesion cheiloplasty was done at 3 months of age, followed by definitive cheiloplasty at 6 to 12 months, then by posterior palatoplasty at 1.5 years. The hard palate was not repaired till the age of 5-7 years. This preliminary study indicated that: (1) The growth of maxilla and mandible shows no sex difference, except the anteroposterior maxillary length, which is longer in the cleft males. (2) The maxilla of our group is more retruded than that of normal noncleft children. (3) The mandibular growth is essentially normal except the higher mandibular plane in the cleft females. (4) The intermaxillary relation and skeletal profile of the cleft males are more favourable than in the early closure group.

A large free flap from an amputated lower extremity based on popliteal vessels was used for coverage of three extensive decubitus ulcers in a single operative procedure. The procedure was easy, reliable, and actually time- and cost-saving. It provided a quick solution and early rehabilitation for a difficult problem.

The complications of Oriental blepharoplasty are described according to their clinical appearance and anatomic findings at the time of surgery. The surgical correction of these complications is presented. A total of 42 patients with complications following blepharoplasty were treated. The types of deformities were categorized from their external appearance as asymmetry, retraction and ectropion, blepharoptosis, supratarsal depression, fading of the lid fold, and hemorrhage. The causes of each type of complication are identified according to the intraoperative findings, and the correlation between preoperative and intraoperative findings is explained. Correction of these complications follows identified guidelines, and the results were good to satisfactory.

Eight patients, aged 9 months to 9 years, each with unusual complete cleft of the primary and secondary palate on one side and a complete cleft of the secondary palate on the opposite side, were evaluated. All showed varying deficiencies of median facial mesodermal dysgenesis characterized by absent frenulum, indefinite cupid's bow, deficient septal cartilage and nasal spine, and absent central and lateral incisor of the cleft side of the premaxilla. Computerized tomographic scan confirmed the absence of the central nervous system anomalies seen in midline clefts. Cephalometric studies revealed maxillary hypoplasia and no evident hypotelorism. These patients demonstrate a definable lack of median mesodermal penetration along with failure of lateral mesodermal penetration. It is to be noted that median facial dysgenesis can occur without recognizable central nervous system disorders. It is quite possible that microforms of median facial dysgenesis occur in unilateral and bilateral cleft lip and palate patients. This would help explain the wide variations of clefting seen clinically.

A case is presented of replantation of 10 digits at the proximal phalangeal level. Seven digits survived. Osteotomies and flexor tenolysis were done on the right thumb, long, and ring fingers and left index and long fingers 11 months later. A toe-to-hand transfer was done to reconstruct the failed left thumb replantation. Functional and sensory recovery is satisfactory.

A case of left facial elephantiasis neurofibromatosa was treated with near-total excision and skin graft. Results were favorable. Repositioning of canthal ligaments, preserving part of relatively normal masseter muscle and primary nasal reconstruction with forehead flap were performed. The skin graft over the myxomatous muscle was successful. Troublesome bleeding was avoided or controlled by incising the normal skin, subperiosteal dissection, hypotensive anesthesia, and chromic catgut suture ligature.

Reconstruction of all four fingers that were amputated at the metacarpophalangeal (MP) joints of the right hand of a 17-year-old male patient was performed by simultaneous transfer of the combined second and third toes from each foot at the level of the metatarsophalangeal joint. Fifteen-month follow-up showed acceptable cosmesis with satisfactory functional results. The patient had no foot discomfort, even after prolonged walking and running.

Of 2963 patients registered at the Chang Gung Craniofacial Center, 1755 patients (906 males and 849 females) who did not have any previous surgery were carefully delineated according to cleft side, involvement of primary or secondary palate and severity of cleft. Cleft lip and palate (43.88%) was the most common cleft, cleft palate (30.88%) the second, while cleft lip (25.24%) the least. More males were found in cleft lip group or cleft lip and palate group, and more females in the cleft palate group. Regarding clefts involving both primary and secondary palates, the cleft of both palates was usually complete, but when the clefts involved either the primary or secondary palate, the cleft was usually incomplete. With regards to the laterality of unilateral cleft lip and/or palate, the left side was affected more than right side. With regard to seasonal variation, cleft palate patients showed the highest incidence from August to October and the lowest incidence from November to January. Cleft lip or cleft lip and palate patients showed the highest incidence from November to February but no obvious difference in the rest of the months. Topographic distribution disclosed that more patients were domiciled in the area north to Hsien-Chu, especially the urban Taipei area.

This prospective clinical comparison of the three commercially available Biobrane preparations indicated that: (1) All three products of Biobrane are excellent skin substitutes. (2) Regular Biobrane has satisfactory wound adherence, however, its non-porous structure allows limited wound drainage. Because of this, it has the highest incidence of haematoma and fluid accumulation (13.3 per cent) and delayed epithelialization (18.8 per cent) of the three products. (3) Thin Porous Biobrane has poor adherence which limits patient activity and provides poor pain relief. The infection rate of 10 per cent was the highest of the three products. (4) Regular Porous Biobrane demonstrated superiority to the other two Biobrane products in this study. It provided good wound adherence while maintaining wound drainage because of its porous structure. The incidence of blood or fluid accumulation (7.1 per cent) was the lowest in the three products. (5) Most of the complications such as infection, delayed epithelialization, pain and activity impairment were related to fluid or blood accumulation. Adherence was found to be more important and reliable than pore structure. Operative haemostasis thus should be emphasized when using porous Biobrane, as with all skin substitutes.

The development of articulation before surgical closure of the hard palate was compared in 75 preschool children with cleft lip and palate and 40 preschool children born without clefts. The children were aged 2 years to 5 years 11 months. The patients had significantly poorer articulation skills than the controls at each age level. Substitutions were the most frequent error, and they did not decrease with age in the patients. Fistula size and a history of speech therapy were significant factors in the articulation error scores only in 5-year-olds. No advantage in articulation proficiency was found for those who had worn a prosthesis to occlude the hard-palate defect.