Treatment of the soft tissue defects in the lower leg after severe trauma using the reversed descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery as the recipient artery / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the application and clinical result of treatment soft tissue defect in the lower leg after severe trauma by using the reversed descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery of the injured leg as the recipient artery for free flaps.Methods Twenty-three patients with soft tissue defect of the lower leg after severe trauma from February 2007 to October 2012 were retrospectively analyzed.The patients were treated with the free flaps (the latissimus dorsi flap or the anterolateral thigh flap) using the reversed descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery of the injured leg as the recipient artery.There were 14 males and 9 females,with an average age of 31.7 years (range,22-49 years).The causes of injury were traffic accidents in 12 cases,crushing injury in 8 cases,and machinery injury in 3 cases.The defect located at the proximal in 4 cases,the proximal and middle in 12 cases,middle and distal in 7 cases.Sizes of the tissue defect were 14 cm×5 cm to 32cm×12 cm,and the flap sizes were 15 cm×7 cm to 34 cm×13 cm.The donor defect was closed directly or resurfaced with a splitthickness skin graft taken from the thigh.Results Twenty-three flaps survived completely.Partial necrosis at the distal edge of the flap occurred in one case,and was healed by secondary intention.No patient needed urgent operative revision due to postoperative thrombosis of the vessels.All flaps completely survived,without evidence of postoperative insufficiency of the blood supply or venous congestion.The donor skin graft survived and the incision healed by first intention.The mean follow-up period was 12.4 months (range,6-21 months).The appearance,texture,color and thickness of flaps in all cases were good at the last followup.The flap achieved protective sensation with the two-point discrimination ranging between 10-25 mm.Conclusion Due to the advantages of reliable blood supply,short treatment cycle,and without postoperative forced position,the reversed descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery of the injured leg can be an ideal choice as the recipient artery for free flaps in repairing the soft tissue defect in the lower leg after severe trauma.