Week 6 CGregg

For last week I worked primarily on my project.  I completed a new RGD modification on samples of my PEGDA scaffold material.  Once the HUVECS were highly confluent I seeded approximately 1.2 million cells on the RGD modified material and the negative control.  I decided to allow the cells to culture 5 days before I would fix the samples and complete histology.

In addition to my research project I spent a long day in the OR on Wednesday.  The first case that I saw was a patient who had been in a car accident, previously had surgery to fix injuries from the accident, and now the patient was having scar revision surgery.  Scar tissue that had formed below the patients right eye was causing the lid and surrounding skin to droop.  A procedure published by Dr. Spinelli involving secondary canthoplasty was used to raise the skin and soft tissue around the eye.  This surgery required the use of a Mitek device which anchored a permanent suture into the bone.

The second case that I saw was a patient with a chronic foot wound exposing the bone.  Skin grafting is not possible to cover bone; therefore, the patient's large toe bone was removed and the surrounding soft tissue was used to generate a tissue flap that was used to cover the wound.

The last case of the day involved a woman with necrotizing fasciitis.  The infection had been removed but the remaining soft tissue needed to be reconstructed with proper closure of the exposed wounds from the infection removal.