One-stage limb Pelnac®reconstruction after removal of skin cancer:safety,efficacy,and aesthetic outcomes

Objective To assesse the outcomes of one-stage limb reconstruction after removal of skin cancers defect.Methods This prospective study was conducted from September 2017 to January 2020 and included 15 patients.All patients underwent extensive tumor resection and one-stage Pelnac®reconstruction of large skin defects,and regular postoperative follow-up was scheduled.At the 6-month follow-up,tumor recurrence and scar quality was assessed using the Vancouver Scar Scale(VSS).None of the patients exhibited infection,wound necrosis,hematoma,seroma,or recurrence.Results All the skin grafts were well accepted by the patients.Nine patients reported normal or near-normal sensory function,while six reported slight sensory loss.No cases of significant functional loss were observed.We enrolled 10 men and 5 women with a mean age of 63.9 years(range:46-78 years).The mean follow-up duration was 20.6 months(range:12-36 months).The skin tumors were located on the feet(n=4),forearms(n=3),and legs(n=8).The malignant tumors included malignant melanomas(13.3%),basal cell carcinomas(33.3%),and squamous cell carcinomas(53.3%).The mean operative time was 40.7 min.Two patients underwent radiotherapy.The average length of hospital stay was 2.6 days.The mean skin defect area was 33.2 cm^(2)(range:16.6-51.6 cm^(2)).The patient satisfaction score(regarding the aesthetic appearance of the grafted area)was 79.7/100,and the VSS score was 3.8.Conclusion Pelnac®dermal templates facilitate efficient and reliable reconstruction of skin defects after skin cancer resection.

FEATURE EXTRACTION OF BONES AND SKIN BASED ON ULTRASONIC SCANNING

In the prosthetic socket design, aimed at the high cost and radiation deficiency caused by CT scanning which is a routine technique to obtain the cross-sectional image of the residual limb, a new ultrasonic scanning method is developed to acquire the bones and skin contours of the residual limb. Using a pig fore-leg as the scanning object, an overlapping algorithm is designed to reconstruct the 2D cross-sectional image, the contours of the bone and skin are extracted using edge detection algorithm and the 3D model of the pig fore-leg is reconstructed by using reverse engineering technology. The results of checking the accuracy of the image by scanning a cylinder work pieces show that the extracted contours of the cylinder are quite close to the standard circumference. So it is feasible to get the contours of bones and skin by ultrasonic scanning. The ultrasonic scanning system featuring no radiation and low cost is a kind of new means of cross section scanning for medical images.