Acute vascular complications (flap necrosis and congestion) with one stage and two stage distally based sural flap for wound coverage around the ankle

anatomy has improved in the last decade. It has lead to technique modification such as the staged procedure in performing sural flaps and improvement in the flap survival rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute vascular complications (flap necrosis or congestion) of 29 patients who und...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohd Yusof, Nazri, Sulong, Ahmad Fadzli, Wan Sulaiman, Wan Azman, Mohammad Amin, Mohammad Azril
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: Malaysian Medical Associations 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/51777/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/51777/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/51777/1/flap-necrosis-and-congestion.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/51777/4/51777_Acute%20vascular%20complications_Scopus.pdf
Description
Summary:anatomy has improved in the last decade. It has lead to technique modification such as the staged procedure in performing sural flaps and improvement in the flap survival rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute vascular complications (flap necrosis or congestion) of 29 patients who underwent distal base sural flap for coverage of wound around the ankle. Methods: Twenty-four males and five females with a mean age of 37.1 years old underwent sural flap surgery to cover wounds at around the ankle. There were 12 cases of open fracture, five infected fractures, four spoke injuries, four degloving injuries and four diabetic foot ulcers. Twentythree cases were done as a single stage procedure while six as a two-stage procedure. The flaps were tunnelled under the skin in three cases. Results: Twenty one flaps healed uneventfully, seven acute vascular complications occur in a single stage group: five developed partial necrosis, one had congestion with epidermolysis, and one had complete flap necrosis. Complications were treated by dressing or skin grafting and only one required a repeat flap surgery. Conclusions: Acute vascular complications may be minimised when sural flap is done in stages for elderly, diabetic, smokers and/or patients with large wound around the ankle. Even if the flap appears necrotic, the underlying structure may still be covered as the fasciosubcutaneous layer of the flap may still survive.