Severe work accidents are one of the most frequent causes for physical disability in adults, alongside car accidents and war/gunshot injuries. In this article we present the case of a severe crush injury of the left foot that occurred in a 31 year-old patient who was involved in a work accident. After an unsuccessful tissue coverage using local flaps, the salvage solution was that of a composite free flap, aiming not only to cover, but also to restore stability to the foot. The treatment of choice was the serratus anterior muscle harvested together with osseous component (8th rib). The healing was difficult, due to wound dehiscence with bone exposure over a small area, but the problem was addressed using FGF (fibroblast growth factor) sponges, which enabled granulation and complete wound closure.
The outcome of the case was favourable, gait being possible without any deficiency. For the cosmetic and functional reasons, the patient suffered one last surgical procedure to debulk the dorsal aspect of the foot. The final result was more than satisfactory, the patient being totally rehabilitated and socially and professionally reintegrated.

There are several possibilities for repairing a nerve defect. These include nerve grafting, tissues for bridging, biological or synthetic nerve conduits. Such conduits, alone or filled with different tissues or substances, may be the key for a major breakthrough in the modern treatment of nerve defects. The easiest way to research these new methods is by experimental in vivo research on live animals – such as the Wistar rats. The following article aims to compare 4 different types of repairs for nerve defects: the nerve graft, a biologic nerve conduit (rat aorta), rat aorta with platelet rich plasma and rat aorta with stem cells.

Medical schools in Romania enroll a high number of students and invest in them serious amounts of money to prepare them afterwards in the residency. Once these residents become specialists, they are left to seek out jobs for themselves. However, the job offer is scarce in the public sector, even though there is a real national deficit of doctors, especially in the rural areas. For this reason, young doctors are forced to seek jobs in private practice or to go abroad. The following survey aims to see the perspectives of the students and young doctors regarding the future jobs they will have and possible solutions to correct the paradox between having too many unemployed doctors in contrast to having a poor national coverage with medical personnel.

Being diagnosed with breast cancer means that the involved patients are dealing with a new phase in their lives. We can say that their priorities change radically. A study from 2011 shows that the leading cause of cancer deaths, in women, in developing countries, is breast cancer, compared to the past decade where the main cause was the cervical cancer. (1)
Up to accepting the diagnosis and regaining the strength to move forward, women go through frustration, denial, guilt, feelings exacerbated by physical mutilation (mastectomy) which they have to deal with this disease. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the main cause of cancer death among females, representing 23% of total cancer cases and 14% of cancer deaths. (1)

In reconstructive surgery, perforator flaps have a short history. Not more than 27 years ago, Nakajima et al. described the six types of perforator vessels known at present: direct cutaneous, direct septocutaneous, direct cutaneous branch of muscular vessel, perforating cutaneous branch of muscular vessel, septocutaneous perforator and musculo-cutaneous perforator [1]. (Fig. 1)
The knowledge about these perforator vessels continuously grew, by identifying the vascular networks of the entire body, formed by the perforator vessels. Therefore, it became possible to create a lot of perforator flaps based on these perforator vessels [2]. Thus, perforator flaps can be considered the latest milestone in the evolution of reconstructive flap surgery. Many methods are used for investigating the exact location of the perforators, such as imaging methods: computed tomography, magnetic resonance angiography and lately thermal imaging that became also reliable [3]. The exact knowledge of the location and caliber of perforators became a real help for plastic surgeons, especially in the calf area, where the reconstructive method has to accomplish the functional and aesthetic needs for both reconstructed and donor areas.