Annals of Plastic Surgery

Soft Tissue Injury Management With a Continuous External Tissue Expander
Overall time to wound coverage ranged from 1 to 6 days, with mean time to definitive wound coverage being 4.4 days. The mean decrease in wound surface area in this group was 74.3%...READ MORE

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Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery

Closure of Scalp and Forehead Defects Using External Tissue Expander
To describe the novel use of an external tissue expander in the reconstruction of scalp and forehead defects. A prospective review was performed on 7 patients who underwent extirpation of head and neck malignant neoplasms resulting in scalp and forehead defects. Reconstruction was performed using an external tissue expander device. Patient clinical factors, defect size, and photographs were collected. READ MORE

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Techniques in Orthopaedics

From the *Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, **Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany and ***Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Athens, GA.

Fasciotomy Wound Management and Closure
"We prefer to manage the fasciotomy incisions with concurrent VAC dressings and dermatotraction. These devices are changed, generally in the operating suite during a concurrent procedure and with a quick irrigation and debridement, every 2 to 3 days until wound closure is achieved or the wound bed appears pristine and ready for skin grafting."

Article describes preferred method for closing fasciotomy wounds.

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Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery

External tissue expansion is a safe and alternative technique to close large scalp defects that would otherwise require skin grafting or free flap reconstruction in appropriately selected patients, and can be achieved in a relatively short period of time. Read more »

Podiatry Management

The World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation have stated that nearly 85% of diabetes-related amputations are preventable. While it requires a necessary technical skill set to perform complex interventions to save the diabetic foot from amputation, limb salvage is largely a "mental game." Read more »

American Society of Podiatric Medical Assistants

Tissue expansion is an important technique for reconstruction of soft tissue defects. It is commonly used in the care of burns, breast re-construction and pediatric plastic surgery. The phenomenon of tissue expansion is well known and observed in pregnancy. Read more »

Journal of Drugs in Dermatology

Here the authors describe a unique dual approach to treatment of MPTT in both the excision and wound revision phases. First, Mohs micrographic surgery is utilized for more discrete removal of malignant tissue, as opposed to wide excision. Then, a novel device, DermaClose RC (Wound Care Technologies, Chanhassen, MN), is used in wound revision, a device that has proven to be more effective in promoting wound closure as opposed to traditional suturing. Read more »

Podiatry Management

Up to 25% of those with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime. Foot ulcers allow bacteria a portal of entry which can lead to infection, and an infected wound is a significant risk factor for limb loss. Eighty-four percent of lower extremity amputations are preceded by a foot ulcer. Read more »

Podiatry Today

Given the potential complications associated with chronic wounds in high-risk patients, the authors debate the merits of different approaches to wound closure and explore emerging concepts in the combination of mechanical assistance and tissue expansion to facilitate improved healing. Read more »

Podiatry Internet Journal

The DermaClose® RC tissue expander allows for closure of large defects without the need for traditional complex skin closure, tissue grafting or creation of skin and tissue flaps. Skin anchors made of surgical steel clips are used with a tension controller to allow for gentle skin stretching on the subcutaneous planes of the wound or defect. Read more »

American Society for Dermatologic Surgery

In this case series, the external tissue expansion device facilitated closure of surgical defects that would otherwise require flap or long complex linear closures. In a majority of cases, undermining was not required. The device was well tolerated, final cosmetic appearance was good to excellent, and final wound lengths were significantly shortened. Read more »

Use of a Continuous External Tissue Expander in the Conversion of a Type-IIIB Fracture to a Type-IIIA Fracture

We describe an individual treated at our instituition with an external tissue expander for the conversion of Type-IIIB Gustilo and Anderson tibia fracture to Type-IIIA fracture. Read more »

Staged Closure of a Giant Omphalocele Using an External Tissue Expander and an Acellular Matrix

We report the case of a full term male born with a giant omphalocele which ruptured at delivery. The sac contained all of the small and large bowel as well as the liver. The abdominal wall defect measured 15 cms and encompassed the entirety of the anterior abdominal wall. Read more »

SAWC Clinical Poster

The purpose of this case series is to report the effectiveness of continuous external tissue expansion (CETE) as a method of fasciotomy wound closure. Primary closure of fasciotomy wounds can be difficult due to edema and tissue retraction. Read more »

A Retrospective Case Study

Six patients who had the DermaClose® RC system applied to obtain primary closure of postoperative wounds were studied retrospectively. Past medical history, age, sex, location of the wound, pre and post operative wound size, and duration of application of the DermaClose™ system was recorded for each patient. Read more »