Salvage of finger length in septicemic necrosis using 3 free flaps from a single anterolateral thigh donor site.
Severe septicemic necrosis can result in extremely debilitating morbidity for patients, often resulting in 4-limb amputation. Further operative procedures to improve both function and cosmesis can be fraught with complexity and complications. The ideal aim in such patients would be to maintain sufficient length and provide soft tissue cover in a single 1-step procedure. We present a novel case in which twin free flaps were used acutely to provide 3 separate skin paddles to cover 2 hand stumps from a single anterolateral thigh donor site, thus maintaining the optimum digit length for subsequent function. We believe that this is the first reported case of using 3 separate flaps from 1 single anterolateral thigh donor site to resurface and salvage digit length in both hands following septicemic necrosis. Detailed knowledge of the anatomy of the anterolateral thigh flap and an understanding of the perforator flap concept can allow others to further develop the many and versatile uses of this flap.
St. Andrew's Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom. rcaulfield@talk21.com
Robert H
RH
Caulfield
Atoussa
A
Maleki-Tabrizi
Jeremy
J
Birch
Venkat
V
Ramakrishnan
D000328:Adult; D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D009336:Necrosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000150:complications*; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013848:Thigh / Q000601:surgery