Radial collateral artery perforator flap combining a vascularized fragment of the distal humerus in reconstruction of thumb complex defects / 中华整形外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the efficiency and effect of radial collateral artery chimeric perforator flap combining a vascularized fragment of the distal humerus to reconstruct thumb complex defects.@*Methods@#5 cases of thumb complex tissue defects patients admitted to Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from June 2014 to October 2018. The patients were all male and aged from 35 to 63 years (average age was 47 years). There were 2 cases of right thumb and 3 cases of left thumb. The skin defect area was from 16.0 cm×4.0 cm to 3.5 cm×2.0 cm, and the bone defect length was 2-3 cm.All defects were reconstructed with radial collateral artery chimeric perforator flap combining a vascularized fragment of the distal humerus. The sizes of perforator flap were from 4 cm×2 cm to 18 cm×5 cm, and the sizes of bone were from 2.0 cm×0.6 cm×0.5 cm to 2.5 cm×1.0 cm×0.5 cm.The posterior branchial cutaneous of the arm was included in skin flap. 2 flaps underlied microdissect to defat. After fixing bone flap and finger/metacarpal bone with Kirschner wires, the radial accessory vessels were anastomosed with the radial vessels and cephalic vein at the nasopharyngeal fossa.All donor sites were closed directly.@*Results@#All flaps survived uneventfully. Kirschner wires were removed 4 to 6 weeks after operation. Postoperative follow-up ranged from 3 months to 4.5 years (average 19 months). All bone aps healed without union. Functions of thumb opposition and thumb to finger were all good. The hand function had excellent result in 3 cases and good in 2 cases. Sensory recovered to S4 in 1 case, S3 in 3 cases and S2 in 1 case. Evaluation of the appearance satisfaction of patients was 5 points in 3 cases and 4 points in 2 cases.@*Conclusions@#The radial collateral artery chimeric perforator flap combining a vascularized fragment of the distal humerus, which can reconstruct skin soft tissue and bone simultaneously, has good postoperative feeling and function recovery, and satisfactory appearance, and is an effective method to repair the defect of thumb complex tissue.