Repair of small and medium-sized defects of dorsum pedis with medial sural artery perforator flap

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics of medial sural artery perforator (MSAP) flap, and to ex-plore the practicality of repair of small and medium-sized defects of dorsum pedis with the flap. Methods Between March, 2012 to December, 2015, 12 patients with variable defects of 4.0 cm×3.0 cm to 4.0 cm×6.0 cm underwent MSAP flap reconstruction. There were 7 males and 5 females, aged from 19 to 49 years (mean, 32 years) . The disease causes were crush injury in 6 cases, machine saw injury in 5 cases, and hot crush injury in 1 case. The size of flaps ranged from 4.0 cm×5.0 cm to 5.0 cm×7.0 cm. All of the donor site was sutured directly. Postoperative follow up was done termly. Results All 12 flaps survived. The flap was similar to the surrounding normal skin, and all patients returned to ambulation. Eleven cas-es survived without a hitch, the other 1 of venous congestion was salvaged by venous thrombectomy and reanastomosis. Fol-lowed-up 5-24 months postoperative, the color of the flap was similar to the surrounding skin. All patients recovered walk-ing and shoe wearing function. The calf residual linear scar. Conclusion The MSAP flap provides thin soft tissue cover-age, enabling good functional recovery after defect reconstruction dorsum of forefoot, show the evident advantages. Key words: Forefoot; Medial sural artery perforator flap; Reconstruction; Microsurgical operation