Microvascular Free Tissue Transfer: Results in 57 Consecutive Cases

Abstract

The success of microvascular tissue transfer in this case series compares favorably with those reported in human reconstructive microsurgery. Both the primary and assistant surgeon should be practiced in microsurgical technique. Failure of latissimus dorsi flaps was not likely caused by an inherently deficient flap design, but was more likely attributed to the location and severity of trauma at the recipient site, the difficulty in isolating suitable recipient vessels for anastomosis or the absence of a trained assistant surgeon during these procedures. Clinical Relevance-This retrospective study documents the successful application of microvascular technique in a series of clinical cases requiring tissue reconstruction.

Deep Circumflex Iliac Cutaneous Free Flap in Cats

“…Free tissue transfer in both the human and veterinary literature has a reported success rate of >90% 5,11,20,22 . Early in microvascular surgery, thrombosis at the anastomotic site was the most common cause of flap failure.…”

“…Since then, many different free flaps have been described. Most of these flaps have been developed in dogs and include the superficial cervical cutaneous flap, saphenous fasciocutaneous flap, trapezius muscle flap, latissimus dorsi muscle flap, proximal and distal ulnar bone flaps, rectus abdominus flap, tibial vascularized cortical graft, free rib grafts, and transversus abdominus myoperitoneal flap 8–15 …”

Repair of a canine forelimb skin deficit by microvascular transfer of a caudal superficial epigastric flap

“…Techniques described to repair distal limb skin deficits in the dog include free skin grafts (Swaim 1990), pedicle grafts (Lemarié and others 1995), axial pattern flaps (Pavletic 1990) and microvascular free flaps (Fowler and others 1998). A microvascular flap is one in which the grafted tissue comprises a single angiosome, i.e.…”

“…This enables the transposition of substantial blocks of tissue such as skin, muscle and bone, individually or in combination, to distant sites to repair tissue defects (Krizek and others 1965, Fowler and others 1987). Various angiosomes have been identified in the dog and have been found to be suitable for microvascular grafting, and success rates for microvascular grafting in the canine have been reported to be as high as 93 per cent (Miller and others 1986, Fowler and others 1998).…”

Microvascular Free Tissue Transfer of the Rectus Abdominis Muscle in Dogs

“…Examples of autogenous tissues transferred using microvascular free tissue techniques in veterinary medicine include skin, bone, omentum, muscle, footpads, and various combinations of these tissues 7,[9][10][11][12] . In 1986, Fowler et al performed the first documented free tissue transfers in veterinary medicine 13 .…”