Posterior compartment of the lower leg reconstruction with free functional rectus femoris transfer after sarcoma resection.
A 72-year-old man with the third recurrence of a low-grade liposarcoma of the right lower leg came to our attention seeking limb-salvage surgery. The tumour was removed en bloc with all the superficial posterior compartment of the leg. Appropriate foot flexion was restored by means of a free-functional rectus femoris musculocutaneous flap harvested from the ipsilateral thigh. The patient was kept on a postoperative splint for 6 weeks. Three months after the operation, clinical and elecromyographic signs of reinnervation were observed. The patient was able to walk, run and climb stairs and no donor-site morbidity was observed. Thigh extension was rated M4, comparable to the contralateral thigh. Foot flexion, without any postoperative exercise, was rated M3 with a 30 degrees excursion. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of reconstruction of the posterior compartment of the leg r with a free functional rectus femoris flap. We believe this muscle could be the ideal option for such reconstruction.
Moschella
F
F
Chirurgia Plastica e Ricostruttiva, Dipartimento di Discipline Chirurgiche ed Oncologiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
D'Arpa
S
S
Pirrello
R
R
Cordova
A
A
D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000601:surgery*; D023821:Limb Salvage; D008080:Liposarcoma / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019042:Muscle Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000601:surgery*; D052097:Quadriceps Muscle / Q000637:transplantation*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D013524:Surgical Flaps