title: The fasciocutaneous supraclavicular artery island flap for releasing postburn mentosternal contractures.
abstract: Mentosternal contractures represent a surgical challenge to the plastic and reconstructive surgeon. We add the supraclavicular artery island flap to the armamentarium of surgical procedures to improve the function and cosmesis of disfigured patients. Since July of 1994, the supraclavicular artery island flap has been used at our institution for releasing postburn mentosternal contractures in eight patients. The flap was planned to be 4 to 10 cm in width and 20 to 30 cm in length with the supraclavicular vessels running axially. All donor defects could be closed primarily without significant postoperative complications in seven of the eight patients. All flaps healed primarily, achieving a good functional result by complete removal of contracting scar tissue for all patients; one donor site healed by secondary intention. We found the supraclavicular artery island flap both reliable and safe for immediate resurfacing after resection of cervical scars. The anatomy, operative procedure, and postoperative results of the supraclavicular artery island flap are outlined in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pallua
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Machens
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rennekampff
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001158:Arteries; D002056:Burns / Q000601:surgery*; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000601:surgery; D017439:Cicatrix, Hypertrophic / Q000601:surgery; D002968:Clavicle / Q000098:blood supply; D003286:Contracture / Q000601:surgery*; D004954:Esthetics; D005205:Fascia / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012449:Safety; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000473:pathology; D013518:Surgery, Plastic; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000473:pathology; D014945:Wound Healing