Scholars@Duke
David Andrew Brown

David Andrew Brown

Associate Professor of Surgery
Surgery, Plastic, Maxillofacial, and Oral Surgery

Selected Publications

Prophylactic Muscle Flaps Decrease Wound Complication Rates in Patients with Oncologic Spine Disease.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg · January 1, 2024 BACKGROUND: Patients with oncologic spine disease face a high systemic illness burden and often require surgical intervention to alleviate pain and maintain spine stability. Wound healing complications are the most common reason for reoperation in this pop ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Maximizing wound coverage in full-thickness skin defects: A randomized-controlled trial of autologous skin cell suspension and widely meshed autograft versus standard autografting.

Journal Article J Trauma Acute Care Surg · January 1, 2024 BACKGROUND: Traumatic insults, infection, and surgical procedures can leave skin defects that are not amenable to primary closure. Split-thickness skin grafting (STSG) is frequently used to achieve closure of these wounds. Although effective, STSG can be a ... Full text Link to item Cite

An obstetrician-gynecologist's review of hernias: risk factors, diagnosis, prevention, and repair.

Journal Article Am J Obstet Gynecol · September 2023 Management of obstetrical and gynecologic patients with hernias poses challenges to providers. Risks for hernia development include well-described factors that impair surgical wound healing and increase abdominal pressure. Among the diverse populations car ... Full text Link to item Cite

Enterothecal fistula as a rare cause of adult pneumocephalus and meningitis: a case report.

Journal Article J Spine Surg · June 30, 2023 BACKGROUND: Enterothecal fistulas are pathological connections between the gastrointestinal system and subarachnoid space. These rare fistulas occur mostly in pediatric patients with sacral developmental anomalies. They have yet to be characterized in an a ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Consensus Approach for Targeted Muscle Reinnervation in Amputees

Journal Article Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open · April 5, 2023 Amputations have been performed with few modifications since the dawn of surgery. Blood vessels are ligated, bones are shortened, and nerves are cut. In a percentage of people, this can result in severe neuropathic, residual limb, and phantom limb pain. Ta ... Full text Cite

Virtual Subinternships in the COVID Era: Lessons Learned from Three Institutional Experiences

Journal Article Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open · March 24, 2023 After the cessation of all in-person visiting rotations during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, many programs developed virtual rotations as an alternative for the recruitment and education of prospective applicants. In this study, we developed a consortium ... Full text Cite

Who's Auditioning Who? Applicant-Reported Elements of the Best and Worst Plastic Surgery Subinternships.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg · April 1, 2022 BACKGROUND: Many integrated plastic surgery applicants choose to complete one or more visiting subinternships or "away rotations" at programs outside of their home institution. As these rotations are so critical on both sides of the application process, th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Muscle Flap Closures in Spine Surgery: Predictors of Usage Patterns and Factors Associated With Postoperative Complications From the NSQIP Database.

Journal Article Clin Spine Surg · February 1, 2022 STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify preoperative factors that impact the decision to perform prophylactic muscle flap closure and assess ri ... Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment of recalcitrant venous ulcers with free tissue transfer for limb salvage

Chapter · January 1, 2022 Venous leg ulcers (VLUs) are open lesions of the lower limb and are the most severe sequelae of chronic venous insufficiency. Although VLUs can often be treated via a conservative multimodal approach, a subset of patients will develop limb-threatening reca ... Full text Cite

Poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) scaffold promotes equivalent tissue integration and supports skin grafts compared to a predicate collagen scaffold.

Journal Article Wound Repair Regen · November 2021 Dermal scarring from motor vehicle accidents, severe burns, military blasts, etc. is a major problem affecting over 80 million people worldwide annually, many of whom suffer from debilitating hypertrophic scar contractures. These stiff, shrunken scars limi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Cellular and Transcriptional Changes Associated With M1 Macrophage Polarization in Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Journal Article Front Med (Lausanne) · 2021 Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by recurrent abscesses, nodules, and sinus tracts in areas of high hair follicle and sweat gland density. These sinus tracts can present with purulent drainage and scar form ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Computational Analysis of the Mature Unilateral Cleft Lip Nasal Deformity on Nasal Patency.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open · May 2019 BACKGROUND: Nasal airway obstruction (NAO) due to nasal anatomic deformities is known to be more common among cleft patients than the general population, yet information is lacking regarding severity and variability of cleft-associated nasal obstruction re ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Botulinum toxin

Chapter · May 1, 2019 From a deadly food-borne neurotoxin that plagued the premodern era to a cosmetic surgery sensation, the story of botulinum toxin in human society is as ... ... Cite

Perioperative Treatment with a Prolyl Hydroxylase Inhibitor Reduces Necrosis in a Rat Ischemic Skin Flap Model.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg · April 2019 BACKGROUND: The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway, regulated by prolyl hydroxylase, is central to tissue adaptation to ischemia. The authors tested whether the prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor dimethyloxalylglycine reduces skin flap necrosis. METHODS: Dor ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multimodal Characterization of the Mature Septal Deformity and Airspace Associated with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg · March 2019 BACKGROUND: The nasal deformity that accompanies cleft conditions is often acknowledged as the most difficult obstacle to restoring facial balance in affected children. Despite considerable progress in the treatment of cleft lip and palate, the outcomes of ... Full text Link to item Cite

The skin transcriptome in hidradenitis suppurativa uncovers an antimicrobial and sweat gland gene signature which has distinct overlap with wounded skin.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2019 Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a debilitating chronic inflammatory skin disease resulting in non-healing wounds affecting body areas of high hair follicle and sweat gland density. The pathogenesis of HS is not well understood but appears to involve dysbi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multiple Recurrent Fibromatosis With Cranial Fasciitis Characteristics in a Pediatric Patient.

Journal Article J Craniofac Surg · October 2017 Cranial fasciitis is a rare, rapidly growing, but benign fibroblastic tumor of the skull that generally presents in childhood. Local resection or curettage of the affected bone is generally curative and the tumor is thought not to recur. Cranial fasciitis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chemical, Electrical, and Radiation Injuries.

Journal Article Clin Plast Surg · July 2017 This article reviews the unique challenges presented by chemical, electrical, and radiation injuries. The authors discuss pathophysiology and diagnosis of these injuries and provide recommendations for management. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Labeled with Plasmonic Gold Nanostars for Cellular Tracking and Photothermal Cancer Cell Ablation.

Journal Article Plast Reconstr Surg · April 2017 BACKGROUND: Gold nanostars are unique nanoplatforms that can be imaged in real time and transform light energy into heat to ablate cells. Adipose-derived stem cells migrate toward tumor niches in response to chemokines. The ability of adipose-derived stem ... Full text Link to item Cite

Photothermal ablation of inflammatory breast cancer tumor emboli using plasmonic gold nanostars.

Journal Article Int J Nanomedicine · 2017 Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is rare, but it is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer. IBC has a unique presentation of diffuse tumor cell clusters called tumor emboli in the dermis of the chest wall that block lymph vessels causing a painful, e ... Full text Link to item Cite

Propranolol Dosing Practices in Adult Burn Patients: Implications for Safety and Efficacy.

Journal Article J Burn Care Res · 2016 Studies in children with burn injuries have demonstrated that propranolol improves metabolism and reduces muscle protein wasting. However, safety and efficacy in adults are less well established than in children. The purpose of this study was to determine ... Full text Link to item Cite

MicroRNAs in skin tissue engineering.

Journal Article Adv Drug Deliv Rev · July 1, 2015 35.2 million annual cases in the U.S. require clinical intervention for major skin loss. To meet this demand, the field of skin tissue engineering has grown rapidly over the past 40 years. Traditionally, skin tissue engineering relies on the "cell-scaffold ... Full text Link to item Cite

Wound healing

Chapter · August 23, 2012 This volume covers the entire spectrum of acute burn treatment. Individual chapters deal with basic aspects of different burn mechanisms as well as the acute care of burn patients. ... Cite

Relevance of the ADAM and UK Small Aneurysm trial data in the age of endovascular aneurysm repair.

Journal Article Arch Surg · September 2009 HYPOTHESIS: Neither the ADAM nor the UK Small Aneurysm trials showed an advantage for early open surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) smaller than 5.5 cm in diameter. The rigorous exclusion criteria of these studies, however, limited surger ... Full text Link to item Cite

A new wave in treatment of vascular occlusive disease: biodegradable stents--clinical experience and scientific principles.

Journal Article J Vasc Interv Radiol · March 2009 Stent-based therapies in percutaneous vascular intervention are associated with significant long-term complications related to in-stent restenosis. A growing body of literature demonstrates the feasibility of biodegradable materials for endovascular stents ... Full text Link to item Cite

Toward a uniform policy for handling incidental findings in neuroimaging research.

Journal Article AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · September 2008 A recent study carried out at the University of California, Irvine exemplifies a commonly overlooked ethical conundrum of neuroimaging research: incidental findings. Research study designs must address the potential of uncovering unexpected findings in sub ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of cytoprotective cytokines in cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Journal Article J Surg Res · August 2008 The mechanism(s) underlying the beneficial effects of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after myocardial infarction (MI) is poorly understood. One possible explanation is the ability of MSCs to secrete cytokines, which modulate cardiomyocyte survival and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hypoxic cell death is reduced by pH buffering in a model of engineered heart tissue.

Journal Article Artif Cells Blood Substit Immobil Biotechnol · 2008 INTRODUCTION: In this report, we tested the ability of HEPES-buffered culture medium to reduce acidotic cell death in hypoxic monolayer cell cultures and in a diffusion-limited model of engineered heart tissue (EHT). METHODS: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of pH gradients resulting from mass transport limitations in engineered heart tissue.

Journal Article Ann Biomed Eng · November 2007 Transport limitations of critical nutrients are a major obstacle in the construction of engineered heart tissues (EHTs), and the importance of oxygen in this regard is well-documented throughout the literature. An indirect effect of cellular hypoxia is the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of oxygen transport in a diffusion-limited model of engineered heart tissue.

Journal Article Biotechnol Bioeng · July 1, 2007 Cardiac tissue engineering has made notable progress in recent years with the advent of an experimental model based on neonatal cardiomyocytes entrapped in collage gels and purified basement membrane extract, known as "engineered heart tissues" (EHTs). EHT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Modulation of gene expression in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes by surface modification of polylactide-co-glycolide substrates.

Journal Article J Biomed Mater Res A · September 1, 2005 Myocardial tissue engineering presents a potential treatment option for heart disease. Cardiomyocytes isolated at various stages of development retain the ability to form contractile networks in vitro, which suggests that it should be possible to reconstit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gelatin-embedded cell-polymer constructs for histological cryosectioning.

Journal Article J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater · January 15, 2005 Many tissue-engineering strategies involve the delivery of cells via porous polymer scaffolds. Obtaining histological sections of the emerging tissue is often necessary to analyze numerous characteristics of the microscopic environment. However, difficulti ... Full text Link to item Cite