A Record of Intraoperative Findings in Hand Trauma (original) (raw)

2004, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Correspondence and brief communications are welcomed and need not concern only what has been published in this journal. We shall print items of interest to our readers, such as experimental, clinical, and philosophical observations; reports of work in progress; educational notes; and travel accounts relevant to plastic surgery. We reserve the right to edit communications to meet requirements of space and format. Any financial interest relevant to the content of the correspondence must be disclosed. Submission of a letter constitutes permission for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and its licensees and assignees to publish it in the journal and in any other form or medium. The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed in the Letters to the Editor represent the personal opinions of the individual writers and not those of the publisher, the Editorial Board, or the sponsors of the journal. Any stated views, opinions, and conclusions do not reflect the policy of any of the sponsoring organizations or of the institutions with which the writer is affiliated, and the publisher, the Editorial Board, and the sponsoring organizations assume no responsibility for the content of such letters. DETECTION OF SUBCLINICAL INFECTIONS IN SIGNIFICANT BREAST IMPLANT CAPSULES Sir: "Detection of Subclinical Infection in Significant Breast Implant Capsules" 1 is an admirable contribution, but I question the authors' recommendation that "prophylactic antibiotic therapy should be administered at the time of the operation." Although systemic antibiotic prophylaxis is rational and commonly used, it has been carefully studied and does not work. In 1990, Gylbert et al. 2 reported a well-documented, randomized, and blinded series of 76 consecutive patients undergoing retromammary augmentation. Half of the patients received carefully chosen perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, with no significant effect on the incidence of contracture.