TISSUE EXPANSION IN PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS - REVIEW OF EXPERIENCE ACCUMULATED OVER 7 YEARS

The ability of the skin to stretch and expand, which is clearly appare nt during pregnancy, is the basis of the use of skin expanders. These devices were first introduced by Radovan in 1976. Over the seven last years, 113 expanders were used in 58 pediatric patients. The most comm on diagnoses were burn scars (50%) and giant nevi (24.14%). A majority of lesions were located to the scalp (62.06%). Major complications we re seen in 17.24% of patients. These data are consistent with previous studies. Discrepancies in the rate of major complications (which has ranged from 6% to 25%) seem to be related mainly to recruitment biases rather than to variations in surgical technique. There is a general c onsensus that skin expansion is a safe and acceptable method in pediat ric patients regardless of the type and site of the lesion.