Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave (ESWT) combined with stretching training in the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis.Methods:A prospective case-control study was conducted to include the patients with chronic plantar fasciitis who had been admitted to Department of Orthopaedic Trauma, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University from June 2021 to June 2022. A SPSS random number generator was used to randomize the patients into an experimental group (receiving treatment with ESWT combined with stretching training) and a control group (receiving stretching training only). Shear wave elastography (SWE) was used to quantitatively evaluate the elastic modulus of the plantar fascia. The 2 groups were compared in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score, plantar fascia thickness, and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia in the patients at 12 weeks after treatment; the correlation between VAS pain score and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia was examined using Spearman analysis in the patients at 12 weeks after treatment.Results:This study included a total of 41 patients (52 feet), 20 males and 21 females with an age of (49.9±8.2) years. There were 16 left sides, 14 right sides and 11 bilateral sides affected. The course of the disease was 7.0 (6.0, 12.0) months. The 2 groups were comparable because there were no significant differences in the general data before treatment between them ( P>0.05). The VAS pain score at 12 weeks after treatment for the experimental group was 1.0 (1.0, 2.0) points, significantly lower than that for the control group [3.0 (2.0, 3.0) points] ( P<0.05). The elastic modulus of the plantar fascia at 12 weeks after treatment for the experimental group was (79.48 ± 17.65) kPa, significantly higher than that for the control group [(57.08 ± 14.16) kPa] ( P<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in the thickness of the plantar fascia at 12 weeks after treatment ( P>0.05). There was a significant correlation between VAS pain score and elastic modulus of the plantar fascia after 12 weeks of treatment ( r = -0.708, P<0.001). Conclusion:In the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis, combination of ESWT and stretching training is more effective than stretching training only.

Objective:To investigate the effects of tibial second toe free flap bridged with blood flow and nerve in the treatment of severe flexion contracture of the proximal interphalangeal joint.Methods:A retrospective observational study was conducted. From March 2013 to October 2019, 9 patients with severe flexion contracture (type Ⅲ) of the proximal interphalangeal joint after trauma operation, conforming to the inclusion criteria, were hospitalized in Suzhou Ruihua Orthopaedic Hospital, including 5 males and 4 females, aged from 17 to 62 years. After the contracture tissue affecting the extension of the proximal interphalangeal joint was cut off, and the scar tissue was resected, the size of the volar wound near the proximal interphalangeal joint in extended position was 2.0 cm×1.0 cm-2.5 cm×1.5 cm, with the length of proper digital artery and nerve defect being 1.0-1.5 cm. A free flap of the same size as the wound was cut from the tibial side of the second toe and transplanted to repair the wound, and the defective proper digital artery and nerve was repaired by bridging with the tibial proper plantar digital artery and nerve of about 1.5 cm in length. The full-thickness skin graft was taken from the proximal tibial side of the lower leg to repair the wound at flap donor site. The wound at skin graft donor site was sutured directly. The survival of flap and skin graft was observed after operation. The patients were followed up, and at the last follow-up, the recovery of the affected finger and the second toe, including the donor and recipient areas were observed, the two-point discrimination distances of the flap repaired site and the pulp of the affected finger were observed and measured at the same time, the blood flow patency of bridged vessel of the affected finger was examined by Allen test, and the function of the proximal interphalangeal joint of the affected finger was evaluated according to Chinese Medical Association's standard for the range of motion of proximal interphalangeal joint.Results:The flaps and skin grafts survived smoothly after operation. The follow-up after operation lasted for 5 to 22 months, with a mean of 10 months. At the last follow-up, the flap repaired site had good shape, good color and texture, with the two-point discrimination distance being 9-12 mm, and the two-point discrimination distance of the pulp of the affected finger was 6-10 mm; the Allen test results of the affected fingers were all negative (i.e., the bridged vessels had good blood flow patency), with no recurrence of flexion contracture, and the function of the proximal interphalangeal joint was evaluated as excellent; the skin graft area of the second toe was not ruptured but was a little pigmented, and the flexion and extension activities of toe were good.Conclusions:The tibial second toe free flap bridged with blood flow and nerve has reliable therapeutic effect in the treatment of severe flexion contracture of the proximal interphalangeal joint, and the color and texture of the flap repaired area are good. Bridging to repair the severely contracted proper digital artery and nerve is beneficial to improve the blood supply of the finger body and rebuild the sensation.

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of facial depression correction by using free anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap and human acellular dermal matrix.Methods:Nineteen facial depression patients (3 males and 16 females), age ranges from 16 to 56 years (average age: 29.1±10.37 years), caused by different reasons were selected in this research from Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2020. In the stage I operation, anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap was designed according to facial depression area and harvested to fill in the depression with vascular anastomosis; In the stage II operation, the human acellular dermal matrix was used to fill in the remained depression edge according to facial subunit.Results:All free anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap survived well. All patients revealed fascial subunit tissue atrophy of different degree in infraorbital, nasolabial sulcus and temporal areas which were repaired by using cellular dermal matrix and obtained satisfying effect during 1 to 8 years of follow-up with no obvious rejection. 18 of 19 patients showed flap hypertrophy and corrected by liposuction. All patients recovered well after 1 to 8 years of follow-up.Conclusions:Humana cellular dermal matrix could make up the limitations of treating fascial depression deformity when using anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap. The combination method of above approaches could obtain satisfying clinical effect, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of external fixators combined with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flap for treatment of Gustilo type IIIB/C open tibiofibular fractures.Methods:A retrospective case series study was conducted to analyze clinical data of 15 patients with Gustilo type IIIB/C open tibiofibular fractures admitted to Ruihua Hospital of Soochow University from March 2016 to June 2019. There were 11 males and 4 females, with the age of (48.5±12.6)years (range, 22-67 years). All patients underwent emergency debridement in stage I, the major blood vessels, nerves and tendons were inspected and repaired, and the fracture ends were fixed by external fixator. There were different degrees of wounds necrosis, infection and bone defect after operation. After debridement in stage II, the soft tissue defects with the dimension of 10.0 cm×5.0 cm to 30.0 cm×8.0 cm were repaired with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flaps whose areas ranged from 10.5 cm×5.5 cm to 30.5 cm×8.5 cm. All donor areas of the musculocutaneous flaps were sutured directly in stage I. The healing of the donor areas and musculocutaneous flaps were observed within 2 weeks after operation. At the last follow-up, the shape and sensory recovery of the flap, healing of fractures and related complications were observed. The lower extremity functional scale (LEFS) was used to evaluate the injured limb function.Results:All patients were followed-up for 12-32 months [(22.0±5.8)months]. All donor areas were healed by first intention, leaving only linear scars. The musculocutaneous flaps survived completely in all patients. Partial necrosis of large area of musculocutaneous flap occurred in 2 patients, and healed after debridement and skin grafting. Another patient had vascular crisis after musculocutaneous flap operation and survived after the embolized vein repaired by contralateral great saphenous. At the last follow-up, the shape of flap recovered well, and the feeling partially recovered with the two-point discrimination of 18-26 mm. All fractures healed well, and there were no serious infection-related complications such as osteomyelitis. The LEFS score was 47-69 points [(59.0±9.5)points].Conclusion:Theexternal fixator combined with anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flaps for treatment of Gustilo type IIIB/Copen tibiofibular fractures can better restore the appearance of soft tissue defect of the lower leg, and can effectively reduce the occurrence of severe infection-related complications.

Objective:The morphological characteristics of the oblique branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery (LCFA) were observed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in order to provide imaging basis in the application of the ALTF pedicled with the oblique branch of LCFA.Methods:Between February, 2020 and December,2020, for the patients who were requested to repair the wound with ALTF, a DSA radiography was performed before operation. A total of 197 sides of selective DSA were analysed in 113 patients. The occurrence rate, origin and course of the oblique branch of LCFA were observed. Relationships between the oblique branch of LCFA and the upper cutaneous branch, descending branch and transverse branch were analysed. In addition, in order to verify the accuracy of conventional DSA data in describing the morphological characteristics of oblique branches, 10 sites of 10 patients were randomly selected to perform rotational DSA three-dimensional imaging.Results:Femoral artery, deep femoral artery, LCFA and the branches of LCFA were clearly identified on DSA images. The oblique branch appeared in 190 sites, with a occurence rate of 96%. Among them, 1 oblique branch originated from the femoral artery, 2 from the deep femoral artery, and other 187 from LCFA. The oblique branches were found in 10 sites from rotational DSA three-dimensional imaging, which was consistent with conventional DSA imaging.Conclusion:The occurrence rate and morphological characteristics of the oblique branch of LCFA can be directly analysed by DSA. The oblique branch is not a variant branch as reported in the literatures, as it always appears. It may serve the main blood supply artery of the anterolateral thigh flap.

Objective:To evaluate the clinical effect of autologous nanofat combined with pearl fat transplantation in comprehensive improvement of lacrimal groove depression.Methods:Seventy-eight patients (age ranges from 28 to 56 years, with average 38 years) who desired for lacrimal groove improvement were involved in this study from Jan. 2019 to Jun. 2020 in the Department of Plastic Surgery in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Primary fat tissue was obtained and purified by liposuction. Nanofat and pearl fat were prepared and injected into lacrimal groove area in different layers and multiple points evenly to ameliorate depression. Visual analogue scoring (VAS) was used for evaluating injection pain. Dark eye circles, faint lines on lower eyelid, color spots and lacrimal groove depression between pre-operation pictures and post-operation pictures of 1 year follow-up were evaluated by patients＇ satisfaction scores.Results:All 78 patients revealed mild swelling and disappeared in 3 to 4 days. Injection areas were stable in 3 months. All patients appeared no complications such as infection, hematoma, fat liquefaction, local induration and so on. Among 78 patients, 2 patients showed ecchymosis after surgery which disappeared in 10 days, and 1 patient showed uneven appearance which disappeared after timely treatment. After 1 year of follow-up, the average satisfaction score of improvement was 8.9±0.5, which showed satisfied post-operative effect.Conclusions:Autologous nanofat combined with pearl fat transplantation has high feasibility, short operation time, which could achieve good effect of facial rejuvenation with high patients＇ satisfaction. In this case, this technique is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To investigate the blood supply pattern and characteristics of bilobate anterolateral thigh flaps, and to summarize the clinical experience.Methods:Date of 102 cases of limb wounds repaired by bilateral anterolateral thigh perforator flaps from March 2014 to July 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 80 males and 22 females with an average age of 40.7 years (range, 9-66 years). All of the patients suffered from limb trauma with complex tissue defects, among which 29 cases had two adjacent and discontinuous wound surfaces on the same limb, and the area ranged from 5 cm×5 cm to 30 cm×18 cm, while the other 73 cases remained a single wound with the area ranged from 12 cm×11 cm to 27 cm×15 cm. Ultrasonic Doppler was used to locate the perforating branches. According to different patterns of blood supply, flaps of different types were designed and applied respectively. For those who with perforating branches of common trunk type or fascial type, the wound surface can be covered by the flap directly; for those who with perforating branches of double trunks type or mixed type, the turbocharging technique was performed after dissection of the pedicles of the flap, while the wound was repaired by reconnection. All the donor sites were sutured directly.Results:Total of 105 bilobed flaps were designed in 102 patients, including 43 flaps of common trunk type, 30 flaps of double trunks type, 24 flaps of fascial type and 8 flaps of mixed type. The single harvested flap area ranged from 6 cm×5 cm to 20 cm×9 cm. One patient's one piece of the bilobed flap repairing two wounds suffered an arterial crisis at 17 h after surgery. The surgery confirmed there was an intractable arterial spasm and the crisis was relieved after a vein trans-plantation. Then about 4 cm×3 cm superficial necrosis appeared in the most distal part of the flap and healed in secondary after dressing changes. Two cases with single wounds suffered from a vein crisis at 48 h after operation. After removing the suture and blood letting, the flaps survived a week later. The average healing time was 19 days (range, 8-83 days). All the thigh donor sites healed by first stage. All the cases were followed-up for an average period of 16 month (range, 6-70 months). The latest follow-up showed that the flaps were of good color and texture, and the sensation of the flaps recovered partially. According to the British Medical Research Council sensory rating scale: 21 cases were grade S2 and 81 cases were grade S3. According to the revascularization assessments of digital replantation standard by Hand Surgery Branch of Chinese Medical Association, the results were excellent in 91 cases, good in 11 cases, with excellent and good rate of 100%. Linear scars were left in most donor sites and the VAS scores were all zero. 5 cases had a large scar area which the width was more than 3 cm, but there was no scar contracture or pain. 9 cases had an abnormal sensation in the donor area in the early stage and recovered gradually 3 months later without any movement disorder.Conclusion:The use of the bilobed anterolateral femoral perforator flap with different blood supply patterns to repair the wounds of extremities could overcome the lack or deficiency of blood supply caused by perforators with different sources. To clarify the blood supply types is conducive to the flap cutting and leaf splitting during the operation, which greatly improves the survival rate of the flap.

Summary: Structural nasal obstruction（SNO） is a series of diseases caused by congenital or acquired structural anatomical abnormalities of nasal airway and its surrounding tissues, which leads to increased nasal ventilation resistance. The effect of medication drugs for SNO is poor and surgical intervention is often needed. However, the abnormal structure of nasal airway is very complex, including the periphery of nasal airway, internal nasal airway, the front and rear of nasal airway and complex factors. These abnormal structures may interfere with the nasal airflow mechanics by changing the nasal ventilation volume and disrupting the symmetry of the bilateral nasal cavity, and finally lead to subjective feeling of nasal obstruction. In addition, the structure of nasal airway has plasticity. After the abnormal structure appears, the corresponding compensation of nasal airway can occur to ensure normal nasal ventilation and bilateral nasal cavity symmetry. Therefore, the SNO is the result of the failure of nasal airway remodeling after the appearance of abnormal structures. The etiology of SNO is complex, involving original structural abnormalities, nasal symmetry changing and nasal airway structure remodeling. Therefore, accurate identification of the main factors leading to SNO is the vitalpremise of making personalized nasal ventilation surgery.

Objective:To explore the predictive value of various specific sonographic features on molecular subtypes for invasive breast carcinoma(IBC).Methods:Sonographic and clinicopathological data were retrospectively reviewed for 500 IBC patients who accepted surgical therapy in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from January 2014 to March 2016. All tumors were divided into 5 molecular subtypes. The relationships of sonographic variations associated with the molecular subtypes for IBC were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Logsitic regression analyses.Results:Specific sonographic features for triple-negative subtype included regular shape ( OR=2.06, P=0.018), no spiculated/angular margin ( OR=1.98, P=0.029), posterior acoustic enhancement ( OR=2.26, P=0.005), and no calcification ( OR=2.13, P=0.006). Specific sonographic feature for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 positive (HER2) subtype was posterior acoustic enhancement ( OR=2.23, P=0.006). Specific sonographic features for Luminal A subtype included spiculated/angular margin ( OR=2.24, P=0.001), posterior acoustic shadow ( OR=1.84, P=0.026), and no calcification ( OR=1.89, P=0.016). There were no specific sonographic features for the Luminal B with HER2 negative subtype, while that for the Luminal B with HER2 positive subtype was calcification ( OR=3.61, P<0.001). However, when used these sonographic features to predict molecular subtypes of breast cancer, the sensitivity values were 8.4%-57.3%, and positive predictive values were 9.5%-53.3%. Conclusions:The variety of sonographic features is associated with molecular subtypes of IBC.However, due to the overlap of sonographic features between different subtypes, molecular subtypes of IBC cannot be predicted by sonographic features.