Reusing of the Failing Free Flap “Nutrient Flap” as Salvage Procedure
A 26-year-old woman sustained a traffic accident injury to her left medial malleolus. A soft-tissue defect 15 × 7 cm with exposure of bone was found and underwent free anterolateral thigh flap to cover it. On the second postoperative day, venous congestion occurred and re-exploration was performed....
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Published in | Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open Vol. 2; no. 1; p. e93 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
01.01.2014
Wolters Kluwer Health Wolters Kluwer |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A 26-year-old woman sustained a traffic accident injury to her left medial malleolus. A soft-tissue defect 15 × 7 cm with exposure of bone was found and underwent free anterolateral thigh flap to cover it. On the second postoperative day, venous congestion occurred and re-exploration was performed. Re-anastomosis of the vein was done after the thrombectomy; unfortunately, the flap did not recover. We found there was a good granulation bed under the failing flap and thinned the failing flap and used it as a full-thickness skin graft. The graft survived completely; 9 months later, the graft site was softer and of good texture. The patient can wear the same size shoes without a debulking procedure. The free flap provided nutrients to the raw surface and nurtured a good granulation bed while it survived for 50 hours; as a result, it was used as “the nutrient flap.” Reuse of the failing free flap as “the nutrient flap” is useful as an alternative backup procedure. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2169-7574 2169-7574 |
DOI: | 10.1097/GOX.0000000000000026 |