Partial failure of a muscle perforator free flap salvaged using its source vessel as a "flow-through" pedicle to a second perforator free flap.
Partial free flap failure can sometimes be more exasperating than total failure as the reason may be unknown, the best potential recipient site has already been violated, and the risk of undertaking a mandatory second free flap perhaps too extenuating. Muscle perforator flaps, often for inexplicable reasons, are also susceptible to partial flap necrosis. However, the large source vessel to their requisite perforator(s) can serve as a convenient second recipient site for attachment as a "flow-through" to another perforator free flap to salvage the overall reconstruction. In a metachronous fashion, this would represent a sequential chimeric perforator-based free flap and proves to be yet another inherent advantage of muscle perforator flaps.
Division of Plastic Surgery, Sacred Heart Hospital and The Lehigh Valley Hospitals, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. pbhallock@cs.com
Geoffrey G
GG
Hallock
D016267:External Fixators; D005360:Fibula / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005597:Fractures, Open / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D058752:Free Tissue Flaps / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000098:blood supply; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007869:Leg Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000637:transplantation; D011859:Radiography; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012086:Reoperation / Q000379:methods; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*