Establishment of experimental model for saphenous artery perforator flap in mini pig / 中华显微外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the anatomy characteristics of saphenous artery(SA) and its perforator vessels in mini pig,and to provide a new perforator flap animal model.Methods Between May,2018 and August,2018,6 7-months-old mini pigs weight 25 kilograms were sacrificed by blooding under general anesthesia.The bilateral external iliac arteries were injected with a mixture of latex-lead oxide mixture and underwent CT-scanning to provide 3-dimensional reconstruction.The origin,diameter,courses and distribution of the SA and perforators of both hind limbs were observed.Results One of the hind limbs was abandoned due to the leakage of perfusion fluid.The other 11 hind limbs were available.The femoral artery passed through the medial femoral muscle and sartorius muscle in the middle of thigh,and run between the medial femoral muscle and gracilis muscle above the knee.Below the knee,it run on the surface of the medial leg muscles.A number of small branches were distributed in the tarsal joint and calcaneus at the medial malleolus,and there were abundant communicating branches with the posterior tibial artery.The average length of SA was (14.86±0.76) mm.The outer diameters of SA at initiative,medial tibial condyle and medial malleolus were(1.73±0.15) mm,(1.50±0.12) mm and (1.30±0.13) mm,respectively.There were a total of 79 perforators which were identified,with a mean of (7.09±1.16) perforators per hind limbs.And the average outer diameter was 0.10-0.78 (0.40±0.13) mm.Conclusion The SA constantly exist with good outer diameter.The number of perforator is abundant.SA can be used as a reliable animal model for studying and training of perforator flap.