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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Plast Surg 1996; 29(01): 009-011
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1774677
Review Article

A Prospective Trial on Reuse of Tissue Expanders

K Agrawal
Depts. Of Plastic Surgery and Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Pondicherry
,
K N Panda
Depts. Of Plastic Surgery and Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Pondicherry
,
A Agrawal
Depts. Of Plastic Surgery and Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Pondicherry
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Summary

A report on a prospective trial on the reuse of tissue expander is presented, to determine the feasibility of reusing these implants, the risks involved and the incidence of complications. Four tissue expanders of different capacities were repeatedly used in 17 patients for different indications, after explaining the possible risks to all of them. Two patients encountered complications while reusing the expanders, but this did not compromise the final result. We feel that like refurbished cardiac pacemakers, the reuse of these expanders has no untoward effect on the patient as well as on the reconstructive procedure. A protocol for expander removal, resterilization and testing has been described.



Publication History

Article published online:
04 September 2023

© 2023. Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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