Case of constriction band syndrome with annular epidermal cyst

A review on the safety of one-stage circumferential ring constriction release

The study was undertaken to investigate the use of one-stage circumferential ring-constriction release with Z-plasties regarding the safety, aesthetic appearance, and limb function. A thorough review was conducted on all English publications in PubMed during the period of 2001 through 2011. Titles and abstracts were identified using online search engine from National Library of Medicine's PubMed database under the keywords "limb constriction ring," "limb constriction band," "amniotic band," "annular constriction," and "circumferential constriction." We used Boolean operator and field of title. Evaluation was done to search indications, timing of the first surgical intervention, time interval between surgeries, patients' gender, anatomic location of the ring, wound healing problems, and scar quality. Fourteen publications met the criteria. There were 17 patients with 25 ring constrictions in total. Sixteen ring constrictions (64%) were circumferential; nine (36%) were semi-circumferential. Mean age of 14 patients treated with one-stage release was 4.8 years. Six articles mentioned about normal development of postoperative limb function. Mean age of three patients treated with staged release was 10.5 months. Two articles mentioned regained distal muscle function postoperatively. It is confirmed that surgeons may continue the practice to release circumferential CRS in one stage.

Facial Clefts and Associated Limb Anomalies: Description of Three Cases and a Review of the Literature

Facial clefts are rare congenital malformations. In the literature these are sometimes reported in combination with limb malformations, especially ring constrictions. This article describes three children with facial clefts and limb ring constrictions with various expressions. The first case has a lateral cleft with associated limb malformations. This combination has, to our knowledge, not yet been reported. The literature about facial clefting and the amniotic band syndrome and the possible etiology of clefting and constrictions in these cases are discussed.