Free medial gastrocnemius myocutaneous flap transfer with neurovascular anastomosis to treat Volkmann's contracture of the forearm

Abstract

Some articles have reported the use of medical gastrocnemius transfer to repair soft-tissue defects caused by trauma and inflammation ( Morris, 1978; Feldman et al., 1978 ; Arnold and Mixter, 1983). However, we have not found any report describing the use of free medial gastrocnemius myocutaneous flap transfer with neurovascular anastomosis to treat Volkmann's contracture of the forearm. Since 1982, 20 cases of Volkmann's contracture of the forearm have been treated by transfer of medial gastrocnemius flap with neurovascular anastomosis. These 20 patients ranged in age from 6–18 years, with a mean of 10 years. There were 18 males and 2 females. All cases resulted from ischaemia of the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the forearm and hand. The most common causes were severe supracondylar fractures or, less frequently, fracture-dislocations of the elbow. Six to twenty months after operation, the transplanted muscles exhibited normal electromyographic potentials, good volume and contractile power with satisfactory functional recovery of the forearms. The deformities of the hand and wrist were also corrected. In this paper we describe the anatomy of the donor site and the operative procedure.