Objective To explore the clinical effect of the radial artery perforator flap on repairing soft tissue defect after palm postoperative scar contracture. Methods Eighteen patients with palm scar contracture were selected. The palm soft tissue defect was repaired by radial artery perforator flap after the operation of scar removal and soft tissue release. The areas of soft tissue ranged from 5 cm × 3 cm to 8 cm × 5 cm. The area of donor flap exceeds 20%of the wounds area, and wounds were repaired by free skin grafting. Six months after operation, the hand function was compared with that before operation. Results All the patients were followed up for 6-15 months (mean 10.8 months), all flaps survived with good shape, and flap donor site wounds were healed by skin grafting. The patients were evaluated 6 months after operation according to the Chinese Medical Hand Surgery Society of upper part of functional assessment criteria: excellent in 11 cases, good in 5 cases and general in 2 cases, but preoperative functional evaluation was excellent 0 case, good in 3 cases, general in 7 cases and poor in 8 cases. Compared with that before operation, the postoperative function was significantly improved. Conclusions It is a commendable approach of repairing soft tissue defect after postoperative palm scar contracture by radial artery perforator flap, because it can provide reliable blood supply, and significantly improve hand function with exactly clinical effect.

This study aimed at investigating the influence of the flow rate of simulated body fluid (SBF) (2 ml/100 ml.min) of body fluid in skeletal muscle upon the formation of bone-like apatite on porous calcium phosphate ceramics. The in vitro immersion experiment in SBF flowing at normal physiological rate is referred to as dynamic SBF. The results showed that bone-like apatite could only formed in the pores of porous calcium phosphate when SBF flow at physiological rate (2 ml/100 ml.min) of body fluid in skeletal muscle. At the same time, bone-like apatite could form both in the pores and on the surface of the samples if the flowing physiological solution is 1.5 SBF. When the flowing speed of SBF is higher than normal physiological speed (10 ml/100 ml.min), no bone-like apatite could be detected both on the surface and in the pores of the materials. This result is in concordance with animal experiments. The dynamic SBF simulates the biological environment of bone-like apatite formation in body better than static SBF (SBF does not flow). This method is very useful for the research of the mechanism of bonelike apatite formation, which is the key step of bone growth on biomaterials, and can be used as an effective approach to investigate mechanism of the osteoinduction of calcium phosphate in nonosseous tissues in vivo.
Apatites ; chemistry ; Body Fluids ; chemistry ; Bone Substitutes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Calcium Phosphates ; chemistry ; Ceramics ; chemistry ; In Vitro Techniques ; Materials Testing ; Surface Properties

Bone-like apatite formation on the surface of calcium phosphate ceramics has been believed to be necessary for new bone to grow on the ceramics and to be related to the osteoinductivity of the material. The research of bone-like apatite formation is a great help to understanding the mechanism of osteoinduction. Synthetic porous calcium phosphate ceramics (HA/TCP = 70/30) were implanted intramuscularly in pigs, dogs, rabbits and rats to make a comparative study of the bone-like apatite formation onto the porous HA/TCP ceramics in different animals. Specimens were harvested at 14 days after implantation. Samples were detected for the surface morphology with SEM. The chemical composition of the sample surface after implantation was analyzed with reflection infrared (R-IR). Obvious bone-like apatite formation could be detected in the sections of porous specimens harvested from all animals after 14 days intramuscular implantation. Crystal deposition could be only observed on the surface of the concave regions of the samples collected from dogs, rabbits and rat. On the contrary, evenly distributed flake-shaped crystal could be found on the pore surface and also on the outer surface of the materials implanted in pigs. The morphology of bone-like apatite in pigs was different from that in the others animals. Bone-like apatite was not observed in dense specimen implanted intramuscularly. Bone-like apatite formed faster on specimens implanted in rabbit than that in other animals. This formation sequence is different from the sequence of osteoinductivity of biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics implanted in these animals. The results demonstrated that the formation of bone-like apatite on materials is a prerequisite condition to their osteoinduction but other factors also play important roles in osteoinduction.
Animals ; Apatites ; chemical synthesis ; Body Fluids ; chemistry ; Bone Substitutes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Calcium Phosphates ; chemistry ; Ceramics ; chemistry ; Dogs ; Male ; Materials Testing ; Prostheses and Implants ; Rabbits ; Rats ; Swine