The donor site morbidity of the anterolateral thigh flap and its coantermeasure / 中华显微外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To discuss the donor site complications and the treatments of the anterolateral thiIgh flap transfer. Methods From July 1988 to July 2007,427 patients treated by anterolateral thish flap surgery were followed up.The donor sites were treated by several methods,including direct closure(49 cases),skin graft transfer(258 cases),anterolateral fascial flap transfer(27 cases),musculocutaneous flap and skin sraft transfer(65 cases), superficial epigastric artery flap transfer(28cases).The area of these flaps ranged from 30 cm×10 cm to 18 cm×7 cm.and the average follow-up was 21 months(ranged from 8 months to 54 months). All the data was analyzed by SPSS for Windows,Version 11.0.1. Results Short-term complications(within 4 weeks)and long-term complications (over 6months)were observed.The former included skin necrosis(5.4%),wound infection(4.0%),and necrosis of rectus femoris(0.5%); and the latter included chronic ulcer(4.9%), aerious scar(6.6%), serious discomfortable(5.9%),and quadriceps femoris disfunction(3.7%).The statistical results showed that there was a close correlation between the donor site morbidity and the surgical methods. Conclusion The complications of the donor site cannot be ignored.Protect the soft-tissue of the donor site carefully,design all appropriate operation plan.Careful preoperative examination and local flap transplantation can effectively decrease the rate of complications.