The clinical application of free perforator flaps in the aesthetic repair of electric burns of forearm and hand / 中华整形外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#The clinical application of free perforator flaps in aesthetic repairing of the wounds of electric injuries in forearms and palms.@*Methods@#20 cases of skin tissue defects of electric injuries in forearms and palms were collected in this group, including 18 male patients and 2 female patients ranged from 20 to 50 years. The size of the skin defects are from 7 cm×5 cm to 18 cm×8 cm. 20 cases of forearms and palms with electric injuries, all of which were repaired by the transplantation of free musculocutaneous perforator monoflaps with anastomosis of interregional blood vessels. 10 cases of wounds in forearms were treated with lateral femoral circumflex artery perforator flaps with sensate nerves. The other 10 cases of wounds in palms were treated with medial plantar artery perforator flap with sensate nerves, with a flap area of 8 cm× 6cm to 20 cm×9 cm. In the donor area, 10 cases were closed with aesthetic suture and 10 cases were repaired with skin grafts.@*Results@#All flaps survived in 20 cases. Artery crisis was found in 1 case on the second day after surgery, and this flap with anastomosis of blood vessels also survived after surgical exploration without delay. The shapes and functions of palms and forearms were observed basically restored from a aesthetic point of view from a follow-up of 3 months to 36 months. Most touch, pain and warm senses were restored in cases with sensate nerves. And a two-point discrimination was 9—11 mm. A satisfactory functional recovery was achieved. The donor sites were found well-healed without any obvious scars or functional disorders.@*Conclusions@#Because of the advantages of hidden donor sites, reliable blood supply, closed texture and good abrasion-resistance, the multiple perforator sublobe flaps with sensate nerves could be adopted, and after thinning could be used as the free flaps to repair the wounds. These have predicted that this method is one of the desirable methods of aesthetic repairing and functional reconstruction of subunits skin tissue defects in palms and forearms.