Repair of the donor defect after wrap-around flap transfer with free thinned innervated anterolateral thigh perforator flap

Abstract

To explore the feasibility of harvesting free thinned innervated anterolateral thigh (ALT) perforator flap for repairing the donor defect after wrap-around flap transfer. Between May 2011 and December 2013, free thinned innervated ALT perforator flap was used to repair the donor defects after wrap-around flap transfer in 9 patients. There were 8 males and 1 female, with a mean age of 31.2 years (range, 19-42 years). The interval time between injury and admission was 3-12 hours (mean, 6.5 hours). Injury causes included machine crush injury (4 cases), traffic accident injury (3 cases), and twisting injury (2 cases). The wrap-around flaps were transferred to reconstruct thumb defects. And the size of donor site defect ranged from 3 cm×2 cm to 8 cm×5 cm. A branch of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve was carried to make innervated ALT perforator flap for donor site repair. The size of innervated ALT perforator flap ranged from 3.0 cm×2.0 cm to 8.5 cm×5.0 cm. The thickness of innervated ALT perforator flap before defatting ranged from 2.0 to 4.5 cm (mean, 3.2 cm); the thickness after defatting ranged from 0.4 to 0.6 cm (mean, 0.5 cm). The defect at the anterolateral thigh was primarily closed in all cases. All reconstructed thumbs and ALT perforator flaps survived. All patients were followed up 6-30 months (mean, 15.8 months). The ALT perforator flaps had good appearance and color, with no further flap revision or defatting procedures. The static two-point discrimination was 8-15 mm (mean, 10.5 mm). All patients could walk and run normally without postoperative skin erosions or ulcerations. The free thinned innervated ALT perforator flap is pliable and thin. It is suitable for repairing the donor site defects after wrap-around flap transfer for thumb reconstruction.