What increases risk of thrombosis on free flap?
The presence of hypercoagulability, which is often associated with thrombogenic comorbidities, increases the risk of free flap thrombosis as well.
What is the difference between flap and graft?
How does a flap differ from a graft? A flap is transferred with its blood supply intact, and a graft is a transfer of tissue without its own blood supply. Therefore, survival of the graft depends entirely on the blood supply from the recipient site. Flap surgery is a subspecialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery.
What is a tissue transfer?
In tissue transfer, the plastic surgeon removes tissue, including skin, fat, muscle, nerves and bone, from one part of the body and moves it to the part of the body where it is needed. The arteries and veins are re-attached and, in some cases, the nerves are as well.
What is the difference between skin graft and skin flap?
A graft is just the skin without a blood supply, whereas a flap is transferred with its blood supply intact. With a flap, larger amounts of tissue can be used, including muscle if required. Some reconstructions need both a flap and a graft.
Why do free flaps fail?
Venous thrombosis was the main cause of free flap failure (16/26), followed by arterial crisis (seven flaps: six arterial thrombosis, one vasospasm), haematoma (two flaps), and infection (one flap) (Table 2).
What causes flap failure?
Causes of failure Vascular occlusion (thrombosis) remains the primary reason for flap loss, with venous thrombosis being more common than arterial occlusion. The majority of flap failures occur within the first 48 hours.
What is the best type of skin graft?
Doctors often use full-thickness grafts for small wounds on highly visible parts of the body, such as the face. Unlike split-thickness grafts, full-thickness grafts blend in with the skin around them and tend to have a better cosmetic outcome.
What is the purpose of free flap surgery?
A type of surgery used to rebuild the shape of the breast after a mastectomy. A tissue flap, including blood vessels, skin, fat, and sometimes muscle, is removed from one area of the body, such as the back or abdomen. It is then reattached to the chest to form a new breast mound.
What is a microvascular free tissue transfer?
Microvascular free tissue transfer is a safe, reliable method of reconstructing scalp and LTB defects and offers favorable cosmetic results. We favor the use of latissimus muscle-only flap with skin graft coverage for large scalp defects and rectus or anterolateral thigh free flaps for lateral temporal bone defects.
How long does it take a free flap to heal?
The donor area of partial thickness skin grafts usually takes about 2 weeks to heal. For full thickness skin grafts, the donor area only takes about 5 to 10 days to heal, because it’s usually quite small and closed with stitches.
How can I monitor my free flap?
There are several approaches to monitoring free flaps postoperatively, including physical examination, labora- tory testing, and the use of medical devices. Oftentimes, more than 1 method is employed to enhance the ability to detect a vascular problem.