Clinical study of reconstruction of devastating defects around the elbow region at a tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

Back ground Devastating defects are those defects where the major structures like bones, joints, nerves, and blood vessels are exposed. These defects may be due to road traffic accidents, train traffic accidents, post burn scar contracture release raw area etc. Skin grafting or simple flaps may not help in these cases making reconstruction challenge. To study the various flap options for the coverage of the elbow defects and its outcomes. Materials and methods: From the period of 2016 to 2017, all patients with elbow defects that required local or locoregional flaps were chosen for the study. Investigations included plain X-ray of the elbow. Hand held Doppler was done for patients in whom the perforator based flaps were selected for reconstruction. Results: In our study (23 patients) were males and (4 patients) were females. The most common cause was the road traffic accident (18 patients). Two patients were due to a post burn contracture release raw area. One of the patients was due to a work place accidental injury. Six patients were due to train traffic accident and of which 5 patients presented with total amputation (stump raw area). The site of the wound played a major role in determining the flap selection. In our series, most of the patients presented with defects over lateral (6 patients) and posterior lateral (7patients) elbow region. Conclusion: Meticulous planning for their construction of devastating elbow defects is necessary to achieve satisfactory results. The choice between different flaps depends on the nature of the defect, availability of donor tissues and the patient’s needs.