Free sensate secondary skin flaps: an experimental study on patterns of reinnervation and neovascularisation.
The main purposes of the present study were: 1) to compare differences, if any, in the patterns of reinnervation between secondary skin flaps, created either from "innervated skin grafts" or from ordinary denervated skin grafts; 2) to examine the influence of time, and the possible roles of granulation tissue and fibrosis in reinnervation following implantation of a nerve trunk into a secondary skin flap at different stages; and 3) to compare neovascularisation before and after free transfer of these flaps. Neurovascular changes were studied in a rat model by microangiography and by immunohistochemical techniques, using antisera to protein gene product 9.5 (panneural marker), to calcitonin gene-related peptide (sensory neurones) and to von Willebrand Factor (endothelial cell marker). The results indicate a potential clinical role for secondary sensate skin flaps where conventional methods of reconstruction including free neurovascular flap transfers are not available.
Kostakoğlu
N
N
Section of Surgical Research, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow.
Manek
S
S
Terenghi
G
G
Polak
J M
JM
Green
C J
CJ
D000818:Animals; D005355:Fibrosis; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D016067:Nerve Transfer; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000294:innervation* / Q000473:pathology; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors