Serial Tissue Expansion at the Same Site in Pediatric Patients: Is the Subsequent Expansion Faster?

Background Serial tissue expansion is performed to remove giant congenital melanocytic nevi. However, there have been no studies comparing the expansion rate between the subsequent and preceding expansions. In this study, we analyzed the rate of expansion in accordance with the number of surgeries, expander location, expander size, and sex.

Methods A retrospective analysis was performed in pediatric patients who underwent tissue expansion for giant congenital melanocytic nevi. We tested four factors that may influence the expansion rate: The number of surgeries, expander location, expander size, and sex. The rate of expansion was calculated by dividing the ‘inflation amount’ by the ‘expander size’.

Results The expansion rate, compared with the first-time group, was 1.25 times higher in the second-or-more group (P=0.04) and 1.84 times higher in the third-or-more group (P<0.01). The expansion rate was higher at the trunk than at other sites (P<0.01). There was a tendency of lower expansion rate for larger expanders (P=0.03). Sex did not affect the expansion rate.

Conclusions There was a positive correlation between the number of surgeries and the expansion rate, a positive correlation between the expander location and the expansion rate, and a negative correlation between the expander size and the expansion rate.

Keywords

Nevus, pigmented - Tissue expansion - Tissue expansion devices - Skin neoplasms

This article was presented at The 74th Congress of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons on November 17-20, 2016 in Seoul, Korea.

Publication History

Received: 24 May 2017

Accepted: 18 October 2017

Article published online:
20 April 2022

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