Objective To explore the results of repairing widespread traumatic soft tissue defects in the heels and adjacent regions with free latissimus dorsi muscle-skin flaps. Methods From March 1998 to May 2005, 10 cases of widespread traumatic soft tissue defects in the heels and adjacent regions were repaired with free latissimus dorsi muscleskin flaps. Of the 10 patients, 9 were male and 1 was female, whose ages ranged from 32 to 60years, and the disease course was 2 hours to 2 months. The defect was by ploughmachine injury in 5 cases, by crush injury in 2 cases, by snake injury in 2 cases, and electricity injury in 1 case. Eight cases of defects involved in the posteriorof heel and leg, the defect area ranged from 21 cm×12 cm to 35 cm×15 cm; 2 cases had widespread soft tissue defects on heel, ankle, sole and dorsal foot, and the defect area was 27 cm×14 cm and 30 cm×21 cm respectively. All cases were accompanied by the exposure of bone; 6 cases by fracture; 4 cases by openinfection of ankle joint; and 2 cases by injuries of the posterior tibial vessel and the tibial nerve. The sizes of the dissected flap ranged from 25 cm×14 cm to 33 cm×24 cm. The donor sites were covered by large mid-thickness flap. Results There were no postoperative complication of vascular crisis and infection. Ten flaps survived completely and the wounds healed by first intention. After a follow-up of 3 to 24 months, five cases received twostageplastic operation because bulky flaps bring some trouble in wearing shoes. In 5cases of reconstructed sensation, two cases recovered pain and temperature sensation. All cases recovered the abilities to stand and walk without ulcer complication. Conclusion The free latissimus dorsi muscle-skin flap is an ideal flap for repairing widespread traumatic soft tissue defects and infectious wounds with muscle defects and bone exposure in the heel and adjacent regions, because it has such advantages as adequate blood supply, big dermatomic area, and excellent ability to resist infection.
From 1984 to 1993, 49 cases with varioussoft tissue defects around the knee were treated with pedicled calf myocutaneous flap, lateral sural cutaneous artery island skin flap, saphenous neurovascularskin flap and fasciocutaneous flap. The postoperation results were sucessful in 47 cases, and failure 2 cases, in one case with flap infection and theother with scar formation surrounding the knee. Both the failure cases were cured with split skin graft. The patient were followed up for an average of three and a halfyears, the knee function was almost completely regained, and the blood supply of the flaps, the elasticity and colour of the flaps were similiar to that of the normal skin, without being cumbersome. The sensation of the saphenous neurovascular flaps and the lateral suralcutaneous artery island flaps was preserved, except partial numbness was presented at the distal part of the flaps. Operative indications and selection of cases were discussed.
The ultra length and width random calf fasciocutaneous flaps whose blood supply came from the calf fasciocutaneous vascular network were transposed in 9 cases for the treatment of severe trauma of leg. All of the flaps survived except one having necrosis of the distal fourth. The length and width of the flap to the width of the pedicle were 6.1∶1 and 2.7∶1 respectively. Properly extended the area and decreased of blood perfusion of the flan would reduce the burden of the venous backflow to the flap relatively. The abundant vascular networks of the calf fasciocutaneous flap was a very important factor that this type of flap would possibly survive.
Application of the island flap on the back of rabbit as a model, the central vessel and its anterior edge vein was perserved. We explored the features of the blood supply and the difference in the dependence of the recipient bed of pure venous flap, arteriolised venous flap and conventional flap. The result showed that the conventional flap and arteriloized venous flap could survive, but the pure venous flap could not. It was suggested that the pure venous flap was in an impending necrotic condition, therefore,the blood circulation of recipient bed and the rate of revascularization between the recipient bed and the flap seemed to play an important role in the survival of the flap.
From April 1984 to March 1994, 31 reconstructive thumbs or fingers were followedup, including 16 cases with free neurovascular big toe nail skin flap and frozen preserved phalanxjointtendon composite allografts as well as 15 cases withfree second toe transfer. The method had the advantage of more fingers could bereconstructed and fewer toes would be lost. The decision of the site of reconstruction of finger, the augmentation of narrow web space between the thumb and the index finger, the prevention and treatment of vascular crisis and the degeneration of allogenic joint were discussed. It had been found that preserving the allogenic finger below -30℃ may lower the immunoreaction of the allogenic tissues. It was emphasized that the viable tissues should be preserved during the emergency debridement, so as to facilitate the following reconstruction procedure.
Objectives To investigate the clinical therapeutic effect of tibial boneskin flaps in the repair of infective boneskin defects of the leg. Methods Between February 2000 and March 2005, 68 cases of leg infective wounds with tibial bone and skin defects were treated: 4 cases using free grafting, 64 cases using crossleg or ipsilateral transposition grafting of tibial boneskin flaps so that the tibial support continuity of the affected leg could be reconstructed and the wound could be covered at one stage. The skin flap area ranged from 9 cm×4 cm to 25 cm×12 cm and the bone flap length ranged from 6 cm to 21 cm. Results The flaps were completely survived in 67 of the 68 cases except 1 case which was repaired by fibular boneskin flaps because of the failed blood-vessel anastomosis; the bone flaps were healed in 66 cases,except 1 case which had delayed union of the proximal end through 6month follow-up because tibial bone flap was lengthened, leading to long soft tissue stripping of the proximal end. All the 68 patients were followed up 6 months to 5 years. The leg function and contour weresatisfactory 2 years after operation. Those patients followed up more than 2 years showed normal weight loading walking without obviously abnormal gait, and can engaged in original work. Conclusion On the basis of sufficient antiinfection, the onestage reconstruction of tibial support continuity and the covering of wound by the three methods are suitable for many types of leg bone and skin defects, have a great application value and high successful rate and can retain the affected limb and create the conditions for the functional recovery.
OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of color doppler flow imaging(CDFI) technique in the design of axial pattern flap. METHODS: From April 1996 to June 1999, 10 patients with residual wound were adopted in this study. Among them, there were seven males and three females, the area of wounds ranged from 6 cm x 8 cm to 15 cm x 20 cm. Before operation, the axial pattern flaps were designed by traditional method, then CDFI technique with high frequency(5.0-7.5 MHz) was used for examining the major supply artery of the flap. At last, the modified flaps were transferred to cover the wounds. RESULTS: All the patients except one case completed the operation successfully. The cosmetic and function of the flaps were excellent. CONCLUSION: CDFI is a simple, direct and accurate method for detecting the supply artery of axial pattern flap. This technique should be popularized to avoid the blindness of flap design.
In order to study the clinical efficacy of bilateral cervico-thoracic skin flap on repairing the contracture of the burn scar of the neck, 66 flaps were used in 33 patients from 1983 to 1995. The size of the flap ranged from 5 cm x 6 cm to 8.5 cm x 15 cm. The donor site was covered with split skin graft. The ratio between the length and the width of the flaps should not exceed 3:1. Fifty-nine flaps survived completely, but 7 had necrosis of small area which was healed without any influence on the function and appearance. The operative technique of the bilateral cervico-thoracic skin flaps were reported. The advantages of this type of skin flap and its applied anatomy and the postoperative care were discussed. In the repair of the cicatritial contracture deformity of the neck, it was important to define whether the skin defect was located in the submandibular, anterior cervical or anterior thoracic region, thus appropriate type of repair could then be given accordingly.
OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical result in repair of soft tissue defect with combined skin flap vascularized by pedicle on the one end and vascular anastomosis on the other end. METHODS From October 1990 to August 1995, 5 cases with soft tissue defect at the extremities and 1 cases with sacral bed sore were repaired by the combined skin flaps transfer, ranged from 15 cm x 30 cm to 16 cm x 70 cm in defect, among them, 5 cases with myocutaneous flap and 1 case with skin flap, and the size of the combined skin flaps was 15 cm x 40 cm to 12 cm x 80 cm. RESULTS All the flaps were survived with satisfactory effect. Followed up 3 to 6 years, there was no obvious complication. CONCLUSION Transfer of combined skin flaps vascularized by pedicle and vascular anastomosis is suitable to repair the soft tissue defect, especially in large area defect.
Objective To study the methods and results of a combination of forehead skin flap and sternocleidomastoid island myocutaneous flap in the reconstruction of large through-andthrough defect of check. Methods One case of check cancer received ampliative resection and functional neck dissection. The defect area of the skin side was 9 cm×7 cm, of the mucosa side 4.5 cm×3.0 cm.The defect of the mucosa side was repaired with sternocleidomastoid island myocutaneous flap which blood supply was from thyroidea superior artery, occipitalis artery and carotis extera vein; of the skin side with forehead skin flap which blood supply was from temporalis superficialis artery and vein. The size of the sternocleidomastoid island myocutaneous flap was 5 cm×3 cm, of the forehead skin flap10 cm×6 cm. Results Two flaps and the split survived after operation. One-stage healing was achieved. The patient was discharged from hospital 2 weeks afteroperation.The color and the quality were good.The tumor did not recur during follow-up of one year. The patient could take care of herself, and she lived normally in talk and diet. Conclusion A combination of forehead skinflap and sternocleidomastoid island myocutaneous flap is a useful method to repair large through-and-through defect of cheek after cancer dissection. It is easy-to-operate and economical.