Repair of defects around the knee with reversed anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyse clinical application of reversed anterolateral thigh adipefascial flap in repair of defects around the knee. Methods Reversed anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap was employed to repair defects of knee and upper shank in five patients from July 2006 to April 2007. The perforator arteries were detected and labelled with a hand held Doppler flowmeter before operation. The size of flaps containing perforator artery ranged from 6 cmx 8 cm to 12 cm×13 cm. After the descending branch was severed at the bifurcation of the lateral circumflex femoral artery, the flaps were elevated distal-ly to cover the defects of the knee and upper part of the shank. A split thickness graft was harvested to cover the flap. Results All the reversed anterolateral thigh adipofascial flaps survived well, with no complications occurred in donor site. Partial graft necrosis occurred in one patient and healed after conser-vative wound dressing change. Conclusion The reversed anterolateral thigh adipofascial flap is a good choice for repair of defects around the knee, for it can provide long thin vascular pedicle and maintain contour of the donor cite.