Repair of large skin defect of upper limb with abdominal pedicled flap

Abstract

To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of designing wide pedicle of abdominal pedicled flap and repairing large skin defect of upper limb with improved suture method. Between March 2014 and August 2016, 11 cases with hand and forearm skin soft tissue defect were repaired with abdominal pedicled flaps. Among them, 8 cases were male and 3 were female; aged 18-65 years (mean, 38 years). The causes of injury were machinery injury in 7 cases and traffic accident in 4 cases. The wound located at left upper limb in 6 cases and right upper limb in 5 cases. The size of wound ranged from 12 cm×7 cm to 20 cm×10 cm. The interval from injury to operation was 2-5 days (mean, 4 days). Four cases were repaired with lower abdominal flap and 7 with umbilical flap. The size of flap ranged from 10 cm×9 cm to 22 cm×10 cm. And the flap was designed with wide pedicle at width of 8 to 18 cm (mean, 15 cm); then the wound was sutured with improved method. The pedicle was cut after 3 weeks. All the flaps survived without congestion, necrosis, and tension blisters. The wound and the incision were both healed at stage Ⅰ. All patients were followed up 4-12 months (mean, 8 months). The skin color, texture, and shape were satisfying, and no ulcer formed. Only line-like scar left at the donor site. Abdominal pedicled flap with wide pedicle and improved suture method can reduce the abdominal skin waste, avoid postoperative infection, and be feasible to repair large skin defect of upper limb with advantages of simple operation and reliable fixation.