I expect that the number of journal publications this year will...

I expect that the number of journal publications this year will outnumber the 16 publications I counted for last year. There’s roughly a dozen already this year. Those numbers, btw, don’t include abstracts presented at various conferences.

On the subject of conferences, for anyone interested, there were 4 abstracts related to BTM which were presented at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 90^th Annual Scientific Congress which was held in Brisbane earlier this month.

Jake Chia and Anthony Barker at Wollongong Hospital presented BIODEGRADABLE TEMPORISING MATRIX: A REVOLUTIONARY ALTERNATIVE IN COMPLEX UPPER LIMB RECONSTRUCTION, a case study of a 71 year old diabetic woman with a severe necrotising fasciitis infection of the hand, which was successfully treated with two separate layers of BTM followed by STSG. A good functional and aesthetic outcome was reported.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ans.17614


Sarah Adamson, Coco Hall, John Su and Sally Ng from Austin Health in Victoria reported on THE USE OF NOVOSORB® BIODEGRADABLE TEMPORISING MATRIX (BTM) IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AXILLARY OR GROIN HIDRADENITIS SUPPURATIVA. Use of BTM in a 28 year old patient with severe and persistent HS in the armpit region resulted in well healed wounds at 3 and 6 months with no evidence of skin contractures and full functional range of movement in the shoulder. There was also no recurrence of HS in the armpit region.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ans.17612


Also from Austin Health in Victoria, Pelicia Lim, Henry Li and Sally Ng reported on RECONSTRUCTION OF COMPLEX WOUNDS REQUIRING RADIOTHERAPY USING NOVOSORB® BIODEGRADABLE TEMPORISING MATRIX: A CASE SERIES. In four patients who underwent excision of skin cancers, BTM was used, followed by STSG, prior to radiotherapy. STSG is typically at high risk of breaking down following radiotherapy. In all four patients, the STSG remained intact, with no breakdown. The authors concluded that the application of BTM prior to skin grafting could potentially increase the robustness of STSG.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ans.17628

Finally, Isobel Yeap, Phaethon Karagiannis and Quan Ngo from Liverpool Hospital in Sydney presented VACUUM-ASSISTED CLOSURE THERAPY FOR CRANIAL DEFECTS WITH EXPOSED DURA OR BRAIN: A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. They reported only the sixth case in the literature of VAC therapy applied to cranial wounds with exposed brain. In this case, the cranial wound in an 81 year-old male was temporised with a VAC therapy applied over a dural patch and a layer of BTM.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ans.17610