Foucher’s flap is one of the ideal flaps to cover traumatic defect of the pulp and dorsum of the thumb. Though ideally described for thumb defects with some shortening, it has been proved beyond doubt that it can also be requisitioned to resurface thumb defects without shortening. In the latter indication, it is necessary to harvest the flap up to the dorsum of the PIP joint. However, the dista...

The anatomy of 1000 symptomatic meniscus lesions is described and related to the age of the patients. All symptomatic lesions found during the study period were treated by arthroscopic surgery. Meniscal lesions were commoner in the right knee (56.5%) and 81% of the patients were men. Of the medial meniscus tears, 75% were vertical and 23% horizontal. Vertical tears of the medial meniscus occurr...

BACKGROUND Superficial ulnar artery is a well-known vascular anomaly that may cause special risks because of possible impairment of the vessel by mistake during harvesting fasciocutaneous forearm flaps. METHODS The charts of patients who had undergone forearm flap transfer were reviewed for vascular anomalies. When a superficial ulnar artery was present, a superficial ulnar artery flap was ra...

OBJECTIVE To test the effectiveness of a device designed to promote decongestion and tissue survival of a fasciocutaneous flap during 15 hours of complete venous obstruction. METHODS In a porcine model, a 9 x 7-cm fasciocutaneous flap was elevated and the associated veins were clamped, causing complete venous obstruction for 15 hours in 6 control and 6 treatment animals. Up to 3 devices were ...

BACKGROUND Necrosis of skin flaps is considered as an important complication in reconstructive surgery. We conducted an experimental study to investigate the efficacy of low-molecular weight heparin, clopidogrel and their combination to improve the flap survival. METHODS Forty male, adult Sprague-Dawlay rats were divided randomly into 4 groups. Standard rectangular, distally based dorsal rand...

BACKGROUND The establishment of the perfusion zones for the deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap is still under debate. Specifically, differences between clinical and anatomical studies have often been described. The purpose of this combined study was to evaluate the characteristics of a DIEP zoning in both clinical and anatomical settings by quantitatively assessing the perfu...

OBJECTIVES To study a cutaneous flap in an animal model for platelet and leukocyte dynamics after ischemia-reperfusion injury and to explain how such a model is relevant to the understanding of reconstructive flaps in a clinical setting. METHODS Cutaneous flaps based on the inferior epigastric artery were raised on C57BL/6 mice and were subjected to various periods of ischemia followed by reper...

Although lateral axial bending is widespread for the locomotion of ectothermic vertebrates, the axial motor patterns of terrestrial taxa are known only for a limited number of species and behaviors. Furthermore, the extent to which the trunk and tail of ectothermic tetrapods have similar motor patterns is poorly documented. We therefore recorded the activity of the epaxial muscles in the trunk ...

Venous flaps are defined as a composite flap of skin and subcutaneous veins that relies on the venous system alone for flap perfusion, that is, the primary blood supply enters and exits the flap through the venous system. [1] Unlike conventional arterial flaps, venous flaps do not sacrifice an artery of the donor site nor do they require deep dissection. This results in an easier procedure as w...

This study compares sensory recovery after total lower lip reconstruction in a wide variety of flaps including bilateral depressor anguli oris flap, submental island flap, bilateral fan flaps, radial forearm flap, and pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps in a large number of patients. Spontaneous return of flap sensation was documented by clinical testing in the majority (3%) of patients who und...