title: The clinical application of anterolateral thigh flap.
abstract: The anterolateral thigh flap can provide a large skin paddle nourished by a long and large-caliber pedicle and can be harvested by two-team work. Most importantly, the donor-site morbidity is minimal. However, the anatomic variations decreased its popularity. By adapting free-style flap concepts, such as preoperative mapping of the perforators and being familiar with retrograde perforator dissection, this disadvantage had been overcome gradually. Furthermore, several modifications widen its clinical applications: the fascia lata can be included for sling or tendon reconstruction, the bulkiness could be created by including vastus lateralis muscle or deepithelization of skin flap, the pliability could be increased by suprafascial dissection or primary thinning, the pedicle length could be lengthening by proximally eccentric placement of the perforator, and so forth. Combined with these technical and conceptual advancements, the anterolateral thigh flap has become the workhorse flap for soft-tissue reconstructions from head to toe.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, National Cheng Kung University Medical College and Hospital, Tainan 70428, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yao-Chou
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Haw-Yen
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Shyh-Jou
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Shieh