title: Local Skin Warming Enhances Color Duplex Imaging of Cutaneous Perforators.
abstract: The perforator flap is one of the most useful techniques in reconstructive surgery. The operative procedure for these flaps will be greatly simplified if accurate localization of the course of the perforator can be preoperatively confirmed. However, small vessels with diameters less than 0.5 mm cannot be readily traced with conventional imaging techniques. Local skin warming temporarily increases cutaneous blood flow and vasodilation. In this study, we established a local skin warming procedure, and performed this before color duplex imaging to improve preoperative perforator mapping and enable precise flap design.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haizhou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zijing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zan
authors.forename: QingFeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001831:Body Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061525:Perforator Flap / Q000098:blood supply*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D055815:Young Adult