Posterior tibial artery perforator pedicled propeller flaps for children heel injuries in spoke wheel accident / 中华整形外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the clinic effects of posterior tibial artery perforator pedicled propeller flaps for children heel injuries in spoke wheel accidents.@*Methods@#During August 2010 and May 2016, 12 children with spoke heel injuries were covered by posterior tibial artery perforator pedicled propeller flaps. The skin and soft tissue defects ranged from 4 cm×3 cm to 8 cm×3 cm. There were 4 cases with achilles tendon exposure, 8 cases with achilles tendon defect in distal, 6 cases with part of calcaneus defect. The range of achilles tendon defect were 2-5 cm(average 3.2 cm). The flap size ranged from 8.0 cm×3.0 cm to 12.5 cm×4.0 cm. In 6 cases, fascia tissue was harvested to fill the heel cavity. The donor sites were closed directly in 11 cases, and covered with skin grafting in one case.@*Results@#All flaps survived smoothly with no complications. All patients were followed up 3 months to 20 months (mean, 8.5 months). The color and appearance of the flaps were satisfactory, with no impact on wearing shoes and walking.@*Conclusions@#Posterior tibial artery perforator pedicled propeller flap which has reliable blood supply, less donor-site morbidities, cosmetic shape, simple operation and less postoperative complications is an ideal method for surfacing heel spoke injuries in children.