TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinical application of the anterolateral thigh flap for soft tissue reconstruction
AU - Zhang, Qixu
AU - Qiao, Qun
AU - Yang, Xinguo
AU - Wang, Hai
AU - Robb, Geoffrey L.
AU - Zhou, Gang
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - The purpose of this article is to describe the author's experience using the anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap for the reconstruction of a variety of soft tissue defects. The flap utility and donor site morbidity were evaluated in 126 cases from March 1985 to August 2007. The ALT flaps were harvested as either free fasciocutaneous, free adipofascial, fasciocutaneous island, or reversed fasciocutaneous island flaps to repair facial, neck, breast, trunk, and extremity defects. In 40 cases (32%), the skin vessels were found to be septocutaneous perforators, and in 86 cases (68%), they were found as musculocutaneous perforators. Of the 126 flaps, 121 survived completely, providing a success rate of 96.0%. There were four cases undergoing multidetector-row computed tomographic angiography (CTA) for preoperative perforator mapping, and all perforators were confirmed intraoperatively. In conclusion, the ALT flap is a versatile and reliable flap that could well be a priority option for soft tissue reconstruction. CTA can provide more valuable and accurate anatomic information about the pedicle and perforators, making it safer and faster to harvest a targeted ALT perforator flap with less donor site morbidity.
AB - The purpose of this article is to describe the author's experience using the anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap for the reconstruction of a variety of soft tissue defects. The flap utility and donor site morbidity were evaluated in 126 cases from March 1985 to August 2007. The ALT flaps were harvested as either free fasciocutaneous, free adipofascial, fasciocutaneous island, or reversed fasciocutaneous island flaps to repair facial, neck, breast, trunk, and extremity defects. In 40 cases (32%), the skin vessels were found to be septocutaneous perforators, and in 86 cases (68%), they were found as musculocutaneous perforators. Of the 126 flaps, 121 survived completely, providing a success rate of 96.0%. There were four cases undergoing multidetector-row computed tomographic angiography (CTA) for preoperative perforator mapping, and all perforators were confirmed intraoperatively. In conclusion, the ALT flap is a versatile and reliable flap that could well be a priority option for soft tissue reconstruction. CTA can provide more valuable and accurate anatomic information about the pedicle and perforators, making it safer and faster to harvest a targeted ALT perforator flap with less donor site morbidity.
KW - ALT flap
KW - Anterolateral thigh flap
KW - Computed tomography angiography
KW - Perforator flap
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U2 - 10.1055/s-0029-1243292
DO - 10.1055/s-0029-1243292
M3 - Article
C2 - 20013586
AN - SCOPUS:76249110205
SN - 0743-684X
VL - 26
SP - 87
EP - 94
JO - Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery
JF - Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery
IS - 2
ER -