Objective To explore the clinical effect of the lower rotating point super sural neurocutaneous vascular flap on the repair of the softtissue defects in the ankle and foot. Methods From May 2001 to February 2006, 24 patients with the soft tissue defects in the ankle and foot were treated with the lower rotating point super sural neurocutaneous vascular flaps. Among the patients, 15 had an injury in a traffic accident, 6 were wringedand rolled by a machine, 1 was frostbited in both feet, 2 were burned, 25 had an exposure of the bone and joint. The disease course varied from 3 days to 22 months; 19 patients began their treatment 3-7 days after the injury and 5 patients were treated by an elective operation. The soft tissue defects ranged in area from 22 cm × 12 cm to 28 cm × 12 cm. The flaps ranged in size from 24 cm × 14cm to 30 cm × 14 cm, with a range up to the lower region of the popliteal fossa. The rotating point of the flap could be taken in the region 1-5 cm above thelateral malleolar. The donor site was covered by an intermediate thickness skingraft. Results All the 25 flaps in 24 patients survived with asatisfactory appearance and a good function. The distal skin necrosis occurred in 1 flap, but healing occurred after debridement and intermediate thickness skin grafting. The follow-up for 3 months to 5 years revealed that the patients had a normal gait, the flaps had a good sense and a resistance to wearing, and no ulcer occurred. The two point discrimination of the flap was 5-10 mm. Conclusion The lower rotating point super sural neurocutaneous vascular flap has a good skin quality, a high survival rate, and a large donor skin area. The grafting is easy, without any sacrifice of the major blood vessel; therefore, it is a good donor flap in repairing a large soft tissue defect in the ankle and foot.
Objective?To investigate the surgical method and clinical efficacy of repairing whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury with the transplant of pedis compound free flap.?Methods?From February 2003 to June 2008, 21 patients with whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury were treated, including 15 males and 6 females aged 18-45 years old (average 25 years old). The injury was caused by punching machine crush in 10 cases, roller crush in 7 cases, and imprinter crush in 4 cases. The time between injury and operation was 1-9 hours. Eleven cases had the skin-degloving injury of the whole hand, while the other 10 cases had the proximal palm injury combined with dorsal or palmar skin and soft tissue defect. After debridement, the size of wound was 9 cm × 7 cm - 15 cm × 10 cm in the dorsal aspect and 10 cm × 7 cm -16 cm × 10 cm in the palmar aspect. The defect was repaired by the thumbnail flap of dorsalis pedis flap and the second toenail flap of dorsalis pedis flap in 5 cases, the thumbnail flap of dorsalis pedis flap and the second toe with dorsalis pedis flap in 4 cases, and bilateral second toe with dorsalis pedis flap in 12 cases. The flap area harvested during operation ranged from 6 cm × 5 cm to 16 cm × 11 cm. Three fingers were constructed in 2 cases and two fingers in 19 cases. Distal interphalangeal joint toe amputation was conducted in the thumbnail flap donor site, metatarsophalangeal joint toe amputation was performed in the second toenail flap donor site, and full-thickness skin grafting was conducted in the abdomen.?Results?At 7 days after operation, the index finger in 1 case repaired by the second toenail flap suffered from necrosis and received amputation, 1 case suffered from partial necrosis of distal dorsalis pedis flap and recovered after dressing change, and the rest 42 tissue flaps survived. Forty-three out of 44 reconstructed fingers survived. All the wounds healed by first intention. At 2 weeks after operation, 2 cases had partial necrosis of the donor site flap and underwent secondary skin grafting after dressing change, the rest skin grafts survived, and all the wounds healed by first intention. Nineteen cases were followed up for 6-36 months (average 11 months). The flaps of palm and dorsum of hand showed no swelling, the reconstructed fingers had a satisfactory appearance and performed such functions as grabbing, grasping, and nipping. The sensory of the flaps and the reconstructed fingers recovered to S2-S4 grade. The donor site on the dorsum of the foot had no obvious scar contracture, without obvious influence on walking.?Conclusion?For the whole-hand destructive injury or hand degloving injury, the method of transplanting pedis compound free flap can repair the defect in the hand and reconstruct the function of the injured hand partially. It is an effective treatment method.
Objective To explore the influencing factors of flexible flatfoot in preschool children and the therapeutic effects of orthopedic insoles intervention. Methods Convenient sampling method was used to select 1-to-6-year-old children who visited the Prosthetics and Orthotics, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between April 2019 and December 2023. According to the follow-up visits of children wearing orthopedic insoles after 1 year, the follow-up group was divided into the experimental group, and those who did not follow up were matched with the experimental group based on general information to form the control group. The degree of flatfoot of both feet, hallux valgus angle, heel valgus angle, knee valgus angle, navicular drop height, tibial torsion angle, foot posture index, and joint flexibility of children at the initial visit and follow-up were evaluated. Ordered multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to assess the factors influencing the degree of flatfoot of children’s feet. Results A total of 976 children were included at the initial visit, all wearing orthopedic insoles. Among them, there were 805 cases in the control group and 171 cases in the experimental group. There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age, height, or weight between the two groups (P>0.05). A comparison of the experimental group before and after wearing orthopedic insoles for 1 year showed that the degree of flatfoot of both feet, heel valgus angle, knee valgus angle, foot posture index, and joint flexibility were lower at the follow-up visit than those at the initial visit (P<0.05); the remaining parameters showed no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). At the follow-up visit of the experimental group, both heel valgus angle, knee valgus angle, and foot posture index were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05); the other parameters showed no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). Age and tibial torsion angle were negatively correlated with the degree of flatfoot (P<0.001), while hallux valgus angle, heel valgus angle, knee valgus angle, navicular drop height, foot posture index, and body mass index were positively correlated with the degree of flatfoot (P<0.05). There was a difference in the degree of flatfoot between male and female children (χ2=99.76, P<0.001). The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that navicular drop height, male gender, foot posture index, body mass index, heel valgus angle, and age were influencing factors of the degree of flatfoot (P<0.05). Conclusions The flexible flatfoot in preschool children is influenced by factors such as navicular drop height, gender, foot posture index, body mass index, heel valgus angle, and age, and it will be somewhat alleviated as they grow. Wearing orthopedic insoles can correct related biomechanical abnormalities of heel valgus and knee valgus to some extent, but it cannot significantly reduce the degree of flatfoot.
Objective To analyze the excision of accessory navicular with reconstruction of posterior tibial tendon insertion on navicular for the treatment of flatfoot related with accessory navicular and to evaluate its effectiveness. Methods Between May 2006 and June 2011, 33 patients (40 feet) with flatfoot related with accessory navicular were treated. There were 14 males (17 feet) and 19 females (23 feet) with an average age of 30.1 years (range, 16-56 years). All patients had bilateral accessory navicular; 26 had unilateral flatfoot and 7 had bilateral flatfeet. The disease duration ranged from 7 months to 9 years (median, 24 months). The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-midfoot score was 47.9 ± 7.3. The X-ray films showed type II accessory navicular, the arch height loss, and heel valgus in all patients. All of them received excision of accessory navicular and reconstruction of posterior tibial tendon insertion on navicular with anchor. Results All patients got primary wound heal ing without any compl ication. Thirty patients (36 feet) were followed up 6-54 months with an average of 23 months. All patients achieved complete pain rel ief at 6 months after surgery and hadgood appearance of the feet. The AOFAS ankle-midfoot score was 90.4 ± 2.0 at last follow-up, showing significant difference when compared with preoperative score (t=29.73, P=0.00). X-ray films showed that no screw loosening or breakage was observed. There were significant differences in the arch height, calcaneus incl ination angle, talocalcaneal angle, and talar-first metatarsal angle between pre-operation and last follow-up (P lt; 0.01). Conclusion The excision of accessory navicular with reconstruction of posterior tibial tendon insertion on navicular is a good choice for the treatment of flatfoot related with accessory navicular, with correction of deformity, excellent effectiveness, and less complications.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of medial tarsal combined with medial plantar flap pedicled with free dorsalis pedis artery in the repair of palm soft tissue defect. MethodsBetween September 2013 and December 2015, 9 cases of palm soft tissue defects were repaired with medial tarsal combined with medial plantar flap pedicled with free dorsalis pedis artery. There were 7 males and 2 females with a mean age of 33 years (range, 21-52 years). The causes included traffic accident injury in 4 cases, crushing injury by heavy object in 3 cases, and electrical injury in 2 cases. The time between injury and admission was 3 hours to 2 days (mean, 9 hours). Five cases had pure soft tissue; combined injuries included tendon exposure in 2 cases, median nerve defect in 1 case, and exposure of tendon and nerve in 1 case. After debridement, the soft tissue defect area ranged from 6 cm×4 cm to 11 cm×6 cm. The flap size ranged from 7.0 cm×4.5 cm to 13.0 cm×7.0 cm. The vascular pedicle length was from 6 to 10 cm (mean, 7.5 cm). The donor sites were covered with ilioinguinal full thickness skin graft. ResultsNine flaps survived, primary healing of wound was obtained. Partial necrosis occurred at the donor site in 1 case, and the other skin graft successfully survived. All patients were followed up 6-20 months (mean, 10 months). All flaps had soft texture and satisfactory appearance; the cutaneous sensory recovery time was 4-7 months after operation (mean, 5 months). At last follow-up, sensation recovered to grade S4 in 4 cases, to grade S3+ in 3 cases, and to grade S3 in 2 cases; two-point discrimination was 7-10 mm (mean, 8.5 mm). According to Society of Hand Surgery standard for the evaluation of upper part of the function, the hand function was excellent in 5 cases, good in 3 cases, and fair in 1 case. The donor foot had normal function. ConclusionThe medial tarsal combined with medial plantar flap pedicled with free dorsalis pedis artery can repair soft tissue defect of the palm, and it has many advantages of soft texture, satisfactory function, and small injury at donor site.
ObjectiveTo summarize the research and clinical application progress of foot lengthening surgery. Methods Relevant research literature on foot lengthening surgery in recent years at home and abroad was reviewed, and a summary was made from aspects such as the types of lengthening surgery, the types of foot diseases treated by clinical application, effectiveness, and complications. ResultsBone defects and shortening deformities of the foot are relatively common clinically. As an innovative treatment method, foot lengthening surgery has gradually attracted attention, mainly including the Ilizarov technique and one-stage bone grafting lengthening surgery. The former promotes bone regeneration based on the tension-stress principle and is widely used in the treatment of calcaneal defects and congenital metatarsal brachymetatarsia, achieving good curative effects. However, there are also complications such as pin-tract infection, joint stiffness and contracture, non-union and delayed union of bone, re-fracture, and alignment deviation. The latter has a short treatment cycle, but the lengthening length is limited. Bone graft resorption and soft tissue complications are its main complications. ConclusionFoot lengthening surgery will develop towards the direction of personalization, intelligence, and precision. With the help of multi-center research, biological materials, and intelligent technologies, the effectiveness and safety will be further improved to better restore the function and appearance of the foot.
Objective To investigate the surgical method and effectiveness of repairing traumatic metacarpophalangeal joint defect by the composite tissue flap autograft of the second metatarsophalangeal joint. Methods Between June 2005 and December 2009, 6 cases (6 fingers) of traumatic metacarpophalangeal joint defect were treated with the composite tissue flap autograft of second metatarsophalangeal joint (containing extensor tendon, flexor tendon, proper digital nerve, planta or dorsal flap). All patients were males, aged 18-48 years, including 3 cases of mechanical injury, 2 cases of crush injury, and 1 case of penetrating trauma. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metacarpophalangeal joints were involved in defects in 2 cases, repectively, and defects ranged from 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm to 3.0 cm × 2.5 cm in size. All patients had skin and soft tissue defects, and defects ranged from 4 cm × 2 cm to 5 cm × 4 cm in size; and 5 cases complicated by extensor tendon defect (2.5-5.0 cm in length), 3 cases by flexor tendon rupture, and 3 cases by common palmar digital nerve injury. The time from injury to admission was 2-6 hours. Results The composite tissue flaps and skin grafts survived in all cases. All incisions healed by first intention. All patients were followed up 1-5 years. The X-ray films showed good healing between the transplanted metatarsophalangeal joint and metacarpals and phalanges at 9-14 weeks postoperatively. The appearance, colour, and texture of the skin flap were satisfactory, and the senses of pain and touch were recovered. The palmar flexion range of transplanted metacarpophalangeal joints was 50-70°, and the dorsal extension range was 5-10° at last follow-up. According to the functional assessment criteria of upper limb formulated by the Hand Surgery Branch of Chinese Medical Association, the results were excellent in 4 cases, good in 1 case, and fair in 1 case, and the excellent and good rate of 83.3%. No dysfunction of the donor foot was observed. Conclusion The metatarsophalangeal joint composite tissue flap can provide bone, nerve, skin, muscles, and tendons, so it is an effective approach to repair the metacarpophalangeal joint defect and to recover the function of the injured joints in one operation.
This study aims to establish a multi-segment foot model which can be applied in dynamic gait simulation. The effectiveness and practicability of this model were verified afterwards by comparing simulation results with those of previous researches. Based on a novel hybrid dynamic gait simulator, bone models were imported into automatic dynamic analysis of mechanical systems (ADAMS). Then, they were combined with ligaments, fascia, muscle and plantar soft tissue that were developed in ADMAS. Multi-segment foot model was consisted of these parts. Experimental data of human gait along with muscle forces and tendon forces from literature were used to drive the model and perform gait simulation. Ground reaction forces and joints revolution angles obtained after simulation were compared with those of previous researches to validate this model. It showed that the model developed in this paper could be used in the dynamic gait simulation and would be able to be applied in the further research.