Medial Plantar Artery Common Origin to Determine Incision Placement for the Fasciocutaneous Flap: A Cadaveric Study

• Published in: The Journal of foot and ankle surgery Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 462 - 464
• Main Authors: Blanton, Casie, Kercado, Miguel, Nordquist, Thomas, Masadeh, Suhail, Rodriguez, Pedro, Rodriguez-Collazo, Edgardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2020
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; anatomic marker; Ankle - blood supply; Ankle - surgery; Cadaver; Dissection; Female; Foot - blood supply; Foot - surgery; foot defect; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; plantar wound; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures; Surgical Flaps - blood supply; surgical technique; surgical technique; 5; foot defect; anatomic marker; plantar wound; dissection
• ISSN: 1067-2516; 1542-2224
• DOI: 10.1053/j.jfas.2019.08.030

Medial plantar artery–based flaps have great value in healing full-thickness wounds of the foot and ankle. The goal of this study was to identify a common location for the origin of the medial plantar artery. Recognition of this anatomic marker will help improve incision placement and increase the success of preserving the artery when performing the medial plantar artery fasciocutaneous flap. This study examined the location of the origin of the medial plantar artery in 40 fresh cadavers. Results were obtained by dissection and macroscopic analysis to document the distance of the origin of the medial plantar artery from the intercollicular groove of the medial malleolus in centimeters. The mean distance was determined to be 3.2 ± 0.4 cm (range 2.7 to 4.5), with a low standard error of 0.0621. This suggests a high statistical probability that the common origin of the medial plantar artery is found 3.2 cm distal to the intercollicular groove of the medial malleolus in the general population.