The Superficial Cervical Artery Flap: Twenty Years' Experience and Development of the Flap

Abstract

The superficial cervical artery (SCA) is a superficial branch of the transverse cervical artery. The SCA supplies the upper part of the trapezius muscle. Since 1986, we have harvested SCA flaps for the reconstruction of neck scar contractures and intractable ulcers of the parietal region. We developed the SCA flap for use as a skin flap in 1990, and in 1993 we succeeded in harvesting it as a free flap. We first employed the flap with a musculocutaneous pedicle, but later we developed the flap as a muscle pedicled flap and a vascular pedicled flap. Moreover, we have successfully employed the flap as a "Super-thin flap," and as microvascular augmented flaps for harvesting extremely large flaps safely. In the 1980s and early 1990s the concept of "perforator flaps" was unknown, but the SCA is now considered to be a perforator. Thus, we can call the flap the SCA perforator (SCAP) flap. The SCAP flap has a wide rotation arc and low donor-site morbidity, and our clinical studies clearly show that it is useful for reconstruction.