BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of lateral intercostal artery perforator-based adipofascial free flaps for facial reconstruction in patients with facial soft tissue deficiency. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study of five consecutive patients diagnosed with facial soft tissue deficiency who underwent operations between July 2006 and November 2011. Flap des...

Background. The aim of the study was to determine efficacy and reliability of percutaneous abdominal drainage in surgical patients and to evaluate intercostal approach to drain subphrenic collections. Material and methods. Eighty-seven patients aged from 29 to 84 years (mean, 55.5 years) were percutaneously drained under the sonographic guidance due to the postoperative or nonoperated abdominal...

Neural drive to inspiratory pump muscles is increased under many pathological conditions. This study determined for the first time how neural drive is distributed to five different human inspiratory pump muscles during tidal breathing. The discharge of single motor units (n = 280) from five healthy subjects in the diaphragm, scalene, second parasternal intercostal, third dorsal external interco...

OBJECTIVE We believed that intercostal catheters were often inserted too far into the thoracic cavity in neonatal patients. The aim of this study was to determine the average distance from the catheter tip to the midline, of intercostal catheters inserted in our neonatal unit and the incidence of catheters that were inserted too far into the thoracic cavity. METHODS During a two year period w...

OBJECTIVES The ideal invasive management as initial approach for pneumothorax (PTX) is still under debate. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of intercostal tube drainage and other various invasive methods as the initial approach to all subtypes of PTX in adults. METHODS Three databases were searched from inception to May ...

Abstract Introduction Cystic mediastinal lymphangiomas (CML) are exceedingly rare, representing <1% of cystic (CL), and typically present before 2 years age. Few cases describe adult presentations solitary CML none symptomatic with ‘mass-effect’ complications. We an incidental finding a causing mass effect complications our definitive surgical management. Case Report A 44-year-old Caucas...

To study the interaction between postural and respiratory control of intercostal muscles, we used electromyography of intercostal muscles of the lateral chest wall in conscious humans. Bipolar fine-wire electrodes were placed in external and internal intercostal muscles in the midaxillary line of four subjects who sat on a bench and breathed through a pneumotachograph. They were instructed to h...

Patterns of muscle activity during lung ventilation, patterns of innervation and some contractile properties were measured in the hypaxial muscles of green iguanas. Electromyography shows that only four hypaxial muscles are involved in breathing. Expiration is produced by two deep hypaxial muscles, the transversalis and the retrahentes costarum. Inspiration is produced by the external and inter...