Six diiTerent types of tissue flaps supplied by different tributaries of the subscapular artery were used as free graft or transfer, they were latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap in 9 cases, latissimus dorsi muscle flap in 1 case, lateral thoracic skin flap in 5 cases, and others. The results were: 22 successful, 3 failures. According to the conditions of the recipient, the appropriate tributary of the subcapular artery should be selected for the blood supply of the flap, however, it was also important to select the best artery of the ecipient for anastomosis.
Thirty-one cases of below pairt nasal defect were re-paired by various auricular compound tissue flap. All of thepatients have good appearance after operations,The operativetechniques and the application range of various auricularcompound tissue flaps were introduced.
Objective To summarize and review the development and experience of anastomosis vascular pedicle free composite tissue flap. Methods From July 1987 to March 2007， 321 patients with complete records were treated. Fourteen tissue flaps were applied for the repair of trauma or tumor excision defects of the body, and for organ reconstruction. Results Vascular crisis occurred in 20 patients within 48 hours postoperatively. Necrosis occurred at flap end in 6 patients. The total survival rate was 94.8%. The main experience was: ① Training to grasp the basic microvascular anastomosis technique was very importantstarting up period for surgeons. The basic technique should be often practiced to ensure the safty of clinical application. ②Restoring appearance and function were equally important in practice.③Utilizing the minimal invasive methods and decreasing the loss of function of donor site were important for improvement of reconstruction quality. The purpose was to achieve functional and esthetic restoration in the condition of lowest donor site scarification. Conclusion The application of free composite tissue flap is important for the development of plastic surgery. There are extensive applications for free flap, especially for those critical patients. The application of free flap could decrease the mobility rate, shorten the treatment period, ease the pain of patients and improve the reconstruction effect. The experience of donor site selection, the strategy of poor recipient site condition, the advantages and disadvantages of muscle flap, the applications time, infections wound treatment and application, are helpful for the future application.
High-voltage electric burns is refractory with high rate of amputation (46%) in early stage and unfavorable functional recovery in later stage. Little breakthrough has so far been made in this respect. From Jan. 1985 to Jan. 1996, ninety-six cases with high-voltage burns were treated in our department. Seventy-one cases of various tissue flap grafting were applied to treat early electric burns, among which sixty-four cases were successful. The amputation rate was reduced to 30%. Postoperatively, a long-term rehabilitation training at home was carried out. Most of them achieved a good appearance of the wounded sites and limbs and satisfactory ability to work or self-care. It was suggested that early thorough debridement of necrosis tissue, careful reservation of living tissue, appropriate choice of tissue flap and postoperative rehabilitation training were of great importance to achieve a good prognosis.
Objective To investigate the therapeutic effectof infected incision wounds after sternotomy by using different reconstructive methods. Methods From December 1997 to December 2006, 13 patients (8 males, 5 females; age, 28-72 years averaged 52 years) with infected incision wounds after sternotomy underwent the reconstruction surgery respectivelyusing the pectoralis major muscle flaps, the medial flaps of the pectoralis major muscle, the rectus abdominis muscle flaps or the greater omentum transpositions. Among the patients, 8 were complicated by diabetes mellitus, 4 by pneumonia and heart failure, 3 by empyema, 4 by chronic insufficiency of the pulmonary function, 1 by malignant tumor, and 6 by severe obesity. Freshlysplit wounds werefound in 11 patients and chronic wounds in the other 2 patients.The size of thewounds was 10cm×5cm-22cm×10cm. Results Among the 13 patients，10 survived after operation and the other 3 died of massive hemorrhage from the anastomostic rupture of the blood vessel, pneumonia, and cancer metastasis, respectively. Of the 10 patients, 6 had their wounds healed by first intention. The follow-up for 6 months to 5 years revealed that there was no recurrencein all the survived patients. Of the 10 patients, 2 developed partial necrosisof the skins at the sutured wounds, which was healed after the skin grafting operation; 2 had an infection at the drainage area but had a healing after the dressing changes. Conclusion The smaller wounds in the upper partof the sternotomy incision should be repaired with the medial flaps of the pectoralis major muscle; the greater wounds in the upper part of the incision shouldbe repaired and reconstructed with the rectus abdominis muscle flap; the smaller wounds in the lower part of the incision should be repaired with the pectoralis major muscle flap, and if the wounds are longer, they should be repaired and reconstructed with the pectoralis major muscle flap and the rectus abdominis muscle flap; and if the wounds are huge enough with an exposure of the important internal organs, the greater omentum transposition should be used, and the residual wounds should be treated with dressing changes and even skin grafting.
Objective To report 4 methods of reconstructing soft tissue defects in oral and maxillofacial regions after tumors resection using cervical pedicle tissue flaps. Methods One hundred seventy-two soft tissue defects were repaired with cervical myocutaneous flaps after resection of oral and facial cancer( 165 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 7 cases of salivary carcinoma). The clinical stage of the tumors was stage Ⅰ in 21 cases, stage Ⅱ in 116 cases and stage Ⅲin 35 cases. Primary sites of the lesions were the tongue (59 cases), buccal mucosa (55 cases), lower gingiva (26 cases), floor of the mouth (25 cases), parotid gland (4 cases) and oropharynx (3 cases). Infrahyoid myocutaneous flaps were used in 60 cases, platysma flaps in 45 cases, sternocleidomastoid flaps in 59 cases and submental island flaps in 8 cases. The sizes of skin paddle ranged from 2.5 cm×5.0 cm to 5.0 cm ×8.0 cm. Results Among 153 survival flaps, there were55 infrahyoid myocutaneous flaps, 40 platysma flaps, 52 sternocleidomastoid flaps and 6 submental island flaps. There were 11 cases of total flap necrosis and8 cases of partial flap necrosis. The success rates were 91.67%(55/60) for infrahyoid myocutaneous flap, 88.89%(40/45) for platysma flap, 88.14% (52/59) for sternocleidomastoid flap and 75%(6/8) for submental island flap. After a follow-up of 3 11 years(5.7 years on average) among 101 cases local reccurence in 18 cases, cervical reccurence in 4 cases, distance metastasis in 2 cases. The survical rate at 3 years were 83.17%(84/101). Conclusion Cervical pedicle tissue flaps haveclinical value in reconstruction of small and medium-sized soft tissue defects after resection of oral and maxillofacial tumors.
Various tissue flaps were used in the repair of 255 cases of the wounds from severe deep burns and cicatricial deformities. The types of flaps used included: 6 kinds of myocutaneous flaps in 54 cases, 10 kinds of axial cutaneous flaps in 50cases, 7 kinds of fasciocutaneous flaps in 44 cases, pedicled subcutaneous tissues flaps in 12 cases, pedicled thin skin flaps in 54 cases, subdermal vascular networks cutaneous flaps in 38 cases, and free skin flaps with arter ialization of vein flap, retrograd island cutaneous flap with great or small saphaneous vein, in each. The survival rate from the transplantation was 99.2 per cent, and the rate of primary healing was 94.5 per cent. According to the time interval between the injury and operation and the conditions of the wounds, the patients were divided into acute, infected and selective cases, and the rate of primary healing was 93.0 per cent, 91.6 per cent and 97.9 per cent, respectively. The selection of the types of flap to be used and the attentions to be taken dueing operation were discussed.