ABSTRACT
The anatomical variations of arterial axes of the upper limb are not uncommon and must be known to allow for safe surgical procedures and in order to limit the morbidity of these procedures. The superficial ulnar artery represents, after the variations in origin of the radial artery, the second most frequent variation in this area. When present, reconstructive procedures may be modified, especially when harvesting forearm free flaps, in order to choose this vessel as nourishing pedicle. The authors present the case of a superficial ulnar artery revealed intraoperatively while harvesting a radial forearm free flap, and a review of their cases in order to assess the frequency of this variation, and correlate it to literature.
Subject(s)
Forearm/blood supply , Ulnar Artery/abnormalities , Forearm/pathology , Forearm/surgery , Free Tissue Flaps , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Plastic Surgery Procedures , Tissue and Organ Harvesting , Ulnar Artery/pathology , Ulnar Artery/surgery , Ulnar Artery/transplantationABSTRACT
Perforators flaps take a special place in reconstructive surgery. These flaps can be dissected and turned as a propeller blade on its pedicule axis. We report the case of a 54-year-old man presenting a recurrence of a dermatofibrosarcoma in the right hypochondrium. Tumor resection caused a large abdominal wall defect taking the anterior aponeurosis of the rectus abdominis. An angioscanner was realized in preoperative to locate the perforators of the deep superior epigastric artery. We realized a propeller flap based on a perforator of the left superior epigastric artery who allowed to cover the wall defect. We set up a patch of Vicryl® to reconstruct the aponeurosis plan at the same operative time. We didn't note any necrosis and complete healing occurred in 2 weeks. The margins were healthy. The cosmetic result and the low morbidity make this flap a good therapeutic option. This flap seems reliable, arteries perforators are constant with good diameter.
