[The technical safety of tissue expander domes].
Since leakage of an expander dome is a well-known complication that may lead to interruption of a tissue expansion procedure, the aim of this project was to study different expansion domes in relation to a medication port after perforation with various needles.


METHODS
The combinations of five different expansion domes and one medication port were tested with three different needle types having two different diameters. The force-distance curves during puncturing, the puncture forces required and the leakage opening pressures were measured after single on repeated punctures with small and large forces. A total of more than 2000 experiments were performed.


RESULTS
Only one of the expander domes and the medication port had sufficient pressure stability. The technical characteristics of these devices are presented. However, the different needle types and puncture techniques had only a minor influence on the pressure stability of the expander domes.
Klinik für HNO-Heilkunde, Medizinische Universität Lübeck.
R
R
Siegert
D
D
Wössmann
H
H
Weerda
D002408:Catheters, Indwelling; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D009339:Needles; D011677:Punctures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015625:Tissue Expansion Devices
Untersuchungen zur technischen Sicherheit von Expanderventilen.