title: Effects of venous supercharging in deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effects of venous supercharging in deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  20 Wistar rats were randomized in 2 groups: control group (C), all had flaps raised based on the deep inferior epigastric perforator vessels (DIEP), and experimental group (E), which was identical to group C, except that the contralateral superficial inferior epigastric vein was also kept with the flap. Flow studies using laser Doppler flowmetry where performed daily in the four zones of the flap. On the 7th postoperative day rats were killed and flap survival was determined using digital planimetry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Flow values were presented as a percentage of the baseline flow after incision of the flap edges. The surviving flap area was demonstrated as a percentage of the total flap area. Evaluation by digital planimetry showed that flap survival in group E was higher than in group C (97,38%+/-1,32%vs.44,13%+/-4,83%, p=0,0006).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that venous supercharging of the rat DIEP flap results in greater flap survival.
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program in Clinical Surgery, UFPR, Curitiba, Brazil. annegroth@gmail.com
authors.forename: Anne Karoline
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Groth
authors.forename: Antônio Carlos Ligocki
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Carolina Gomes
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Ruy Fernando Caetano da
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Alfredo Benjamim Duarte da
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Fernando Hintz
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Greca
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Graf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019074:Epigastric Arteries; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000098:blood supply*