Extension of the musculocutaneous flap by surgical delay
B. H. Haughey and W. R. Panje
The musculocutaneous flap has limits on survival of its skin segment.
Random skin extensions beyond muscle margins have, by clinical experience,
been shown to survive. It has not been proved, however, what quantity of
random skin will survive or whether its viable dimensions can be augmented
by surgical delay. Twenty-five porcine musculocutaneous island flaps were
created with a random skin extension running beyond the likely limit of
survival. Twenty-five paired contralateral flaps subjected to a surgical
delay one week earlier were raised simultaneously. The surviving dimensions
of random skin on both control and experimental flaps were measured 14 days
after delay. The control flaps sustained random skin segments one to 48
times their area of muscle while the delay doubled this, engendering more
predictable survival. A new, successful experimental technique of
increasing skin survival in musculocutaneous flaps is documented.