Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Sep 18, 2018; 9(9): 130-137
Published online Sep 18, 2018. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v9.i9.130
Assessment of palmar subcutaneous tissue vascularization in patients with Dupuytren’s contracture
Nathalia Shchudlo, Tatyana Varsegova, Tatyana Stupina, Tamara Dolganova, Michael Shchudlo, Nathalia Shihaleva, Vadim Kostin
Nathalia Shchudlo, Tamara Dolganova, Michael Shchudlo, Nathalia Shihaleva, Vadim Kostin, Clinics and Experimental Laboratory for Reconstructive Microsurgery and Hand Surgery, Russian Ilizarov Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopaedics”, Kurgan 640014, Russia
Tatyana Varsegova, Tatyana Stupina, Laboratory of Morphology of Federal State Budget Institution, Russian Ilizarov Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopaedics”, Kurgan 640014, Russia
Author contributions: Shchudlo N, Varsegova T, Stupina T, Dolganova T, Shchudlo M, Shihaleva N and Kostin V substantially contributed to the conception and design of the study, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data; all authors drafted the article, made critical revisions related to the intellectual content of the manuscript, and approved the final version of the article to be published.
Supported by The RF Ministry of Health within Government-Mandated Program for FSBI Russian Ilizarov Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopaedics” (RISC “ RTO”) for Scientific Research in 2018-2020 Yr./Yrs. No. АААА-А18-118011190119-5 from 11/01/2018.
Institutional review board statement: The article was reviewed by RISC “RTO” Review Board and statement including: (1) The manuscript is not simultaneously being considered by other journals or already published elsewhere; (2) The manuscript has no redundant publication, plagiarism, or data fabrication or falsification; (3) Ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the RISC “RTO” Institutional ethics committee; and (4) Material contained within the manuscript is original, with all information from other sources appropriately referenced.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Nathalia Shchudlo, MD, Academic Research, DM, Head, Clinics and Experimental Laboratory for Reconstructive Microsurgery and Hand Surgery, Russian Ilizarov Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopaedics”, M. Ulianova Street 6, Kurgan 640014, Russia. nshchudlo@mail.ru
Telephone: +7-89-225631752 Fax: +7-83-522454060
Received: March 28, 2018
Peer-review started: March 29, 2018
First decision: May 9, 2018
Revised: May 14, 2018
Accepted: May 31, 2018
Article in press: May 31, 2018
Published online: September 18, 2018
Processing time: 171 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To investigate the structural and functional characteristics of palmar hypodermal tissue vascularization in Dupuytren’s contracture patients of different age groups.

METHODS

Eighty-seven Dupuytren’s contracture patients underwent partial fasciectomy. Twenty-two of them were less than 55 years old (Y-group, n = 22); the others were 55 and older (O-group, n = 65). In surgically excised representative tissue samples, a histomorphometric analysis of the perforating arteries of the palmar aponeurosis and stereologic analysis of hypodermis vascularity were performed. The method of laser flowmetry estimated the microcirculation of the skin of the palm.

RESULTS

Frequency of cases with rapid development of contracture (less than 5 years) was 13.6% in the Y-group and 40% in the O-group, P < 0.05. The external and luminal diameters of perforating arteries in palmar fascia were decreased more severely in Y. The thickness of intima increased three times compared with healthy control, and the intima/media relation also increased, especially in O. Increased numerical and volumetric micro-vessel densities in hypodermis, percentage of large vessels (more than 12 μm in diameter), and percentage of vessels with signs of periadventitial inflammatory infiltration were noted in Y. The percentage of vessels with adventitial fibrosis was greater in O than in Y. Base capillary flow in Y was increased compared to healthy control subjects and to O, and peak capillary flow was increased in comparison with control.

CONCLUSION

Compared to the O-group, Y-group patients exhibited more severe constrictive remodeling of palmar fascia perforating arteries supplying hypodermis but more expressed compensatory changes of its capillarization.

Keywords: Dupuytren’s contracture; Laser Doppler flowmetry; Hypodermis; Histo-morphometry; Palmar fascia

Core tip: This is a retrospective study comparing the incidence of quick development of Dupuytren’s contracture (less than 5 years) and peculiarities of palmar hypodermal tissue vascularization and microcirculation in two age groups of patients undergoing partial fasciectomy. The quantitative characteristics of palmar fascia perforating arteries remodeling, the hypodermal adipose tissue vascularization, and skin microcirculatory flow in patients with Dupuytren’s contracture depending on age were represented for the first time. In patients younger than 55 years, the incidence of rapidly progressive contracture was two, nine times less than that in the older group. Both age groups were characterized with constrictive arterial remodeling, especially the younger group, but quantitative signs of compensatory capillaro- and arteriologenesis were more prominent in the younger group.