PURPOSE: To treat burn and burn scar contracture, many types of dermal substitutes have been manufactured and used recently. Allogenic dermis is known to have best cellular affinity to the host, but it is the thinnest product among artificial dermis. Processed thick allogenic dermis (Allocover(R)) has been developed and applied to overcome the problems of preexisting materials as a permanent dermal substitute. METHODS: From June 2007 to May 2009, we have grafted thick acellular human dermal allograft with thin split-thickness skin graft on burn wound and burn scar contracture of feet and legs in 14 patients who had hypertrophic scar, joint contracture and various skin defect areas. Intraoperatively, we fixed spilt thickness skin graft to artificial dermis with suture fixation for avoiding the mobilization between them. RESULTS: Thirteen patients out of 14 patients had no problem. One patient underwent partial skin loss and secondary healing process. During the 18 months of follow up period, no contracture recurrence or skin loss was observed. CONCLUSION: The thick acellular human dermal allograft (Allocover(R)) could be very useful in the management of skin loss and burn scar contractures. Its vascularization has occurred fast enough that wounds can be covered in an adequate layer of dermal augmentation with minimal contracture and good cosmetic results.
Acellular Dermis ; Burns ; Cicatrix ; Cicatrix, Hypertrophic ; Contracture ; Cosmetics ; Dermis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Foot ; Humans ; Joints ; Leg ; Recurrence ; Skin ; Sutures ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants

Hypersensitivity myocarditis may result from an allergic reaction to a variety of agents such as antibiotics, anticonvulsants and diuretics. A diagnosis of hypersensitivity myocarditis should be considered in any patient with an ongoing allergic reaction to a drug, evidence of peripheral eosinophilia, an appearance of new electrocardiographic changes, mildly elevated cardiac enzyme, mild cardiomegaly on chest X-ray or unexplained tachycardia. This condition is rarely recognized clinically although it is occasionally diagnosed on endomyocardial biopsy. We report a 25 year-old woman with hypersensitivity myocarditis, which was diagnosed by endomyo-cardial biopsy and successfully treated by immunosuppression therapy with corticosteroids.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Anticonvulsants ; Biopsy ; Cardiomegaly ; Diagnosis ; Diuretics ; Electrocardiography ; Eosinophilia ; Female ; Glucocorticoids ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Immunosuppression ; Myocarditis* ; Tachycardia ; Thorax

A 34-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of recently aggravated right heart failure without angina for 5 months. When she was 25 years old, patch repair with Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was performed for the secondum type of atrial septal defect (ASD) with moderate pulmonary hypertension. The chest PA, echocardiography and cardiac catheterization at current admission revealed Eisenmenger syndrome without intracardiac shunt. Chest CT scan with contrast revealed markedly dilated pulmonary trunk, both pulmonary arteries and concave disfigurement of the left side of the ascending aorta suggesting extrinsic compression, as well as total occlusion of the ostium of the left main coronary artery that was retrogradly filled with collateral circulation from the right coronary artery. The coronary angiography showed normal right coronary artery and the collaterals that come out from the conus branch to the mid-left anterior descending artery (LAD) and that from distal right coronary artery to the left circumflex artery (LCX) and to the distal LAD, respectively. On aortography, the left main coronary artery was not visualized with no stump, suggestive of total occlusion of the ostium of the left main coronary artery. From our experience, it is possible to say that the occlusion of the ostium of the left main coronary can be induced by the dilated pulmonary artery trunk due to ASD with pulmonary hypertension and that, if the ASD closure was too late, the narrowing or obstruction of the left coronary artery could not be resolved even after operation owing to irreversible pulmonary hypertension.
Adult ; Case Report ; Constriction, Pathologic/etiology/radiography ; Coronary Disease/*etiology/radiography ; Dilatation, Pathologic/etiology ; Eisenmenger Complex/diagnosis ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial/*complications ; Human ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/*complications ; *Pulmonary Artery/radiography