AIMS During epicardial electroanatomical mapping (EAM), it is difficult to differentiate between fibrosis and fat, as both exhibit attenuated bipolar voltage (BV). The purpose of this study was to assess whether unipolar voltage (UV), BV, and electrogram characteristics (EC) can distinguish fibrosis from viable myocardium and fat during epicardial EAM for ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation i...

Twenty patients with failed back surgery syndrome were analyzed prospectively with MR imaging. In addition, 10 of these patients were analyzed with high-dose contrast-enhanced CT or gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging. Imaging results were compared with surgical and pathologic findings in all cases. In the 10-patient subset, abnormal epidural soft-tissue specimens were also assessed w...

Excessive contraction of hypertrophic scar and subsequent contracture formation are a formidable problem after thermal injury. A comparison between fibroblasts from hypertrophic scar and normal skin was made with the use of fibroblast-populated collagen lattices as a measure of cellular generated contractile forces. Hypertrophic scar and normal skin fibroblasts were mixed with soluble tendon co...

BACKGROUND Breast reduction is one of the most commonly performed plastic surgery procedures. Many approaches to breast reduction have been described, including inverted-T and vertical scar techniques and various types of dermoglandular pedicle for the nipple. OBJECTIVE This study compares the outcomes of patients undergoing vertical scar medial pedicle versus inferior pedicle inverted-T scar...

Scarring is the body’s natural response to a wound. Yet, this healing process can create significant functional and cosmetic problems. It impacts daily life and can create issues in self-esteem. Traditionally, the treatment of scars has been surgical. Despite meticulous surgical technique, scars still form. Revision may be in the form of excising the scar to create a “thinner” line, or the surg...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have suggested that Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination may have a non-specific beneficial effect on infant survival and that a BCG scar may be associated with lower child mortality. No study has previously examined the influence of BCG vaccination on cause of death. METHODS Two cohorts (A and B) were used to describe the mortality pattern for children with and...

The Burn Scar Index, often called the Vancouver Scar Scale, is widely used in clinical practice and research to document change in scar appearance. Several sections of the Index require equipment to accurately score the items. Additionally, the numeric scores are difficult to remember. We recently devised a pocket-sized tool to aid in scoring the scar and to increase staff compliance in use of ...

BACKGROUND The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) against tuberculosis is administered intradermally, and vaccination is often followed by a scar at the injection site. Among BCG-vaccinated individuals, having a scar has been associated with lower mortality. We aimed to examine the impact of vaccination technique for scarring in a high income setting, by assessing the associations between t...

Each year in Hong Kong, about 350,000 surgical procedures are conducted for various types of conditions. Previous review indicated that the prevalence of hypertrophic scar among Caucasians ranged from 15% to 63% and that the incidence was even higher among non-Caucasians. This study aims to find out the prevalence rate of hypertrophic scar among the Hong Kong Chinese population after standardiz...

OBJECTIVES To critically assess the prevalence among schoolchildren 6 to 9 years of age throughout the Dominican Republic of a bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination scar, and to examine the relationship between nutritional and sociodemographic factors and the likelihood of having a BCG scar. METHODS This correlational study used the database of the Second National Census on Height and Wei...