The ulcer resulting from snake-bite injury was characterized by deep and wide tissue necrosis and secondary infection. The patient was at high risk of loss of function of his extremity. From 1989 to 1996, 16 cases with deep ulcer of the upper extremity resulting from snake-bite injury were treated with different types of axial thoraco-abdominal skin flaps, depending on the location of the ulcer. Thoraco-umbilical skin flap was used in 2 cases, lateral thoracoabdominal skin flap in 1 case, iliolumbar skin flaps in 5 cases, lower abdominal skin flaps in 6 cases, lower abdominal divided foliated skin flap in 1 case and Y-shaped hypogastric skin flap in 1 case. Reparative operation was carried out within 3 weeks after injury and primary repair were undertaken in 6 of them. The pedicles were divided in 17 to 24 days after operation. Twelve flaps survived. Three of the 6 flaps had mild signs of inflammation which disappeared after administration of antibiotics. One had necrosis of the distal part of the flap, and was healed with split skin graft. This type of skin flap was an ideal method for the treatment of snake-bite injury of the upper extremity.
Abstract Postburn deformities, including hypertrophic scars, scar contracture and defect or deformity of tissue or organ, are the commonest disorders in plastic surgery. It is also difficult to deal with. If the diformity involved multiple organs, oftentimes the teatmentis very difficult because the material for repair is limited and the donorsite usually could not provide adequate amount of skin for repair. Since 1978,2496 cases of various postburn deformities were admitted. In this article, theoptimal time to operate was discussed. The use of flap transfer and soft tissueexpander was described. Prolonged traction in the treatment of severe contracture of large joint was also described.
An experimental study was designed on the treatment of 8 superficial burn wounds and 5 wounds after removing the split-thickness skin grafts with 200GS permanent magnetic flat dressings, and some of the wounds were chosen at random which did not received any treatment and would be served as control. It was noted that the volume of exudate in the treatment group was 11.9 50.7％ less than that of the control group, and the total protein, the albumin and globulin contents in the treatment cases were far less in exudate than those of the control cases. It was concluded that the magnetic therapy not only decresed the exudate, but also diminished the amount of total protein, albumin and globulin in the exudating fluid and it was of benefit to wound recovery.