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Conflicting reports and surgeon opinions have contributed to a long-standing debate regarding the merits of the intact canal wall versus canal wall down approach to cholesteatoma. The objective of this analysis was to identify and synthesize available data concerning rates of recidivism after the two primary types of cholesteatoma surgery. PubMed, Cochrane Collaboration, and Google Scholar searches were performed and articles filtered based on predetermined exclusion criteria. Individually reported rates of recurrent and residual disease were extracted and recorded. Meta-analysis demonstrated a relative risk of 2.87 with a confidence interval of 2.45–3.37, confirming a significantly increased incidence of postoperative cholesteatoma when using an intact canal wall approach rather than a canal wall down approach. Next, rates of recidivism following the typical two-stage intact canal wall operation were compared with a single-stage canal wall down operation and found to be similar. In conclusion, we advocate that greater consideration should be given to the canal wall down procedure in initial surgical management and identify the need for further exploration of rates of recidivism after staged or second-look procedures.

Despite the substantial clinical differences between acute and chronic ischemia, researchers attempting to develop molecular therapies to treat critical limb ischemia have only tested those therapies in experimental models of acute hindlimb ischemia. We present here a novel model of chronic hindlimb ischemia in the rat. We further demonstrate that when hindlimb ischemia is developed chronically, collateral artery development is poorer than when hindlimb ischemia is developed acutely. These findings suggest that further tests of molecular therapies for critical limb ischemia should be performed in chronic hindlimb ischemia models rather than in acute hindlimb ischemia models.

Although 99 percent of breast lesions in female adolescents are benign tumors, surgical intervention is commonly required. This article reviews the differential diagnosis, evaluation, and management of these benign tumors. A modified surgical technique for resection of large fibroadenomas and reconstruction of the remaining breast is described. The authors review the approach to five specific breast lesions: fibroadenomas, phyllodes tumors, juvenile hypertrophy, inflammatory processes, and premature breast development.