title: The use of unilateral or bilateral external oblique myocutaneous flap in the reconstruction of lower abdominal wall or groin defects after malignant tumor resection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  External oblique myocutaneous flap (EOMF) has been used successfully for many years in reconstructive plastic surgery, its function is mainly concentrated in the restoration of chest wall defects following breast cancer resection. However, for the lower abdominal wall or groin defects after malignant tumor resection, reconstruction with EOMF is little reported. In this study, we report our experience with EOMF downward transposition to repair the defects.
  
  
  METHODS
  12 patients with malignant diseases in the lower abdominal wall or groin underwent aggressive tumor resection, the defects were reconstructed immediately with EOMF. Patient characteristics, details of operation and postoperative complications were described.
  
  
  RESULTS
  12 patients received radical resection, the defect size ranged from 140 to 588 cm(2) . Ipsilateral or bilateral EOMF was utilized to repair the defects. The EOMF had good quality skin and soft tissue to cover the defects, postoperatively, four patients developed seroma, two patients had distal tip necrosis, but no serious complications occurred, the wound of donor site healed well, no abdominal hernia was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides a new and alternative approach to reconstruct large defects with EOMF downward transposition after malignant tumor resection in the lower abdominal wall or groin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Sarcomas, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ruming
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chunmeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Biqiang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yingqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D034861:Abdominal Wall / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006119:Groin / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064827:Myocutaneous Flap; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*
keywords: external oblique myocutaneous flap; groin; lower abdominal wall; reconstruction