Despite low donor-site morbidity and a straightforward dissection, the gracilis muscle flap is still for many surgeons a second choice in microsurgical reconstruction of the lower extremity in cases of osteomyelitis. They underscore the difficulty of the procedure, and the problems of insufficient muscle volume and a small sized vascular pedicle. The aim of this study was to assess the reliabil...

BACKGROUND Current teaching suggests increased perfusion in free transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flaps over pedicled TRAM flaps, broadening indications for its use in high risk patients. This study compared perfusion analysis of free muscle-sparing versus pedicle TRAM flaps in vivo in the peri-operative and late post-operative periods. METHODS The SPY-Elite system using indocy...

813 free perforator flap surgery and always have a second option in mind in case of flap failure. Further, a sufficient understanding of the wound characteristics, donor and recipient vessels, and design for insetting should precede the surgery. Lastly, the skin graft over the muscle flap is less durable than the fasciocutaneous flap and tends to form a callus. To prevent this complication, a p...

Introduction: The heel has two parts, weight bearing and non-weight bearing part. Soft tissue heel reconstruction has been a challenge due to its complex nature of anatomy, weight bearing part of foot and the mechanism of injury requiring reconstruction. The pattern of injury includes from simple laceration to a complex wound with loss of soft tissue and fracture involving various degrees of ca...

approached with care, and either neovascularization across the flap should be confirmed or the main vascular pedicle should be left intact. We report a case of the total loss of a flap after a secondary operation was performed 18 months after successful reconstruction using a latissimus dorsi muscle flap. There is controversy concerning flap neovascularization, and many factors can compromise f...

We read with interest the paper by Abolhoda et al. about a harvest technique for pedicled transposition of latissimus dorsi muscle, and congratulate the authors [1]. We are used to transpose intrathoracically the whole latissimus dorsi muscle to obliterate an infected apical or mid-thoracic dead space and we use the same technique as described by the authors but we have modified the harvest tec...

BACKGROUND The latissimus dorsi (LD) muscle flap has been widely used in facial reanimation surgery. However, there are no standards to what degree the muscle flap may be safely thinned because the three-dimensional positional relationship of thoracodorsal artery, vein, and nerve inside the LD muscle is poorly understood. METHODS From 18 formalin-fixed cadavers, we made 36 transparent specime...

BACKGROUND Large-scale muscle tissue engineering remains a major challenge. An axial vascular pedicle and perfusion bioreactor are necessary for the development and maintenance of large-scale engineered muscle to ensure circulation within the construct. We aimed to develop a novel experimental model of a large-scale engineered muscle flap from an existing rat groin fat flap. METHODS A fat fla...

The trapezius muscle is one of the largest muscles in the body. It is one of the most superficial muscles in the posterior aspect of the neck and thorax. The trapezius flap had been used frequently, but has been used less often in recent years. Still, a trapezius flap can be used in a number of ways in the reconstruction of the upper back or head and neck. The authors noted that the flap could ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Scaffold-free cartilage has been used to engineer biocompatible and mechanically stable neotracheas in vivo. The purpose of this animal study was to determine if neotracheal constructs, implanted paratracheally, could successfully be used for segmental tracheal reconstruction. STUDY DESIGN Animal study. METHODS Culture-expanded auricular rabbit chondrocytes were used t...