The anatomy of superficial inferior epigastric artery flap.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the anatomical variations of superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) flap as a muscle-sparing flap.


METHODS
A series of 40 dissections were performed on 20 preserved or fresh male cadavers. The site origin and drainage of vessels, caliber, length, and correlation between diameter and length of pedicle were identified.


RESULTS
The SIEA and SIEV were identified at inguinal ligament level in 38 (95%) and 40 (100%) dissections, respectively. The SIEA originated directly from a common femoral artery 22 (57.9%) or a common trunk with other arteries. The SIEA was found within 1 cm of the midpoint of the inguinal ligament in 33 of 38 cases. The meanSD length of SIEA was 3.041.73 (0.5-7) cm. The meanSD caliber of SIEA was 1.450.35 (0.7-2.1) mm. The length of SIEV ranged from 2.2 to 12 cm with a meanSD of 5.452.08 cm. The caliber of SIEV ranged from 1.6 to 4 mm with a meanSD of 2.140.45 mm. The length of SIEA correlated with caliber of arterial pedicle (p<0.001 and correlation coefficient = 0.517).


CONCLUSIONS
The inferior epigastric artery flap can be applied to microsurgical flap transfer, potentially in breast reconstruction, hemifacial atrophy, phalloplasty, or when extremely large amounts of skin coverage are required.
Fathi
Mahdi
M
Department of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
Hatamipour
Ebrahim
E
Fathi
Hamid Reza
HR
Abbasi
Ali
A
D000328:Adult; D002102:Cadaver; D019074:Epigastric Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000098:blood supply*