title: Distally based adipofascial flaps for dorsal foot and ankle soft tissue defects.
abstract: Soft tissue defects of the dorsal foot and ankle are difficult to reconstruct because the contour of the foot must be maintained for shoe fitting. The adipofascial flap, covered with a skin graft, is a suitable method of reconstruction that fulfills this important requirement. Twelve patients with soft tissue defects of the dorsal foot and at the ankle were treated in our unit with this method. Ten (83%) were children, 2 (17%) were adults. All defects were due to road traffic accidents. Three (25%) patients were women; 9 (75%) were men. The right foot was affected in 10 (83.4%) patients, with 2 (16.6%) patients having the left foot involved. The flaps used were the peroneal artery perforator flap (distally based lateral adipofascial flap) in 9 (75%) patients, the superficial sural artery flap in 2 patients (17%), and the posterior tibial artery perforator flap (distally based medial adipofascial flap) in 1 patient (8%). All flaps were successful, providing adequate contour of the foot for wearing ordinary shoes. There were 2 partial skin graft necroses, and, in 1 patient, the tips of the donor site skin flaps were necrosed. In conclusion, the distally based adipofascial flap, covered with skin graft, is a suitable method for reconstruction of soft tissue loss of the dorsal foot and ankle and provides optimum functional and aesthetic outcome with minimum donor site morbidity.
authors.affiliation: King Khalid Civilian Hospital, Tabuk, Kingdom of Soudi Arabia. mtaifour1@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M Taifour
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Suliman
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000637:transplantation*; D000328:Adult; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005205:Fascia / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018409:Foot Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome