Porcine abdominal cutaneous flap model: A simple and reliable method

Abstract

The increase of reconstructive microsurgery procedures leads to the development of various technologies. Before being validated in human clinical studies, these technologies and devices need to be validated on animal models. We present a simple, reliable and reproducible model of a cutaneous flap in pigs. This flap is pedicled on the superficial inferior epigastric pedicle (SIEP). The surgical technique is described. This flap can be buried and, if necessary, harvested on both sides. It did not alter the abdominal wall, and so it has allowed painless long-term follow-up of the animals. To our knowledge, this technique has never been reported in pigs.