Usefulness of Omental Flap for Various Soft Tissue Reconstruction.

Lee, Hwa Seob; Park, Sae Jung; Ryu, Hyung Ho; Suh, Man Soo; Lee, Dong Gul; Chung, Ho Yun; Park, Jae Woo; Cho, Byung Chae

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2005;32(4):428-434.
Published online July 1, 2005.

Usefulness of Omental Flap for Various Soft Tissue Reconstruction.

Hwa Seob Lee, Sae Jung Park, Hyung Ho Ryu, Man Soo Suh, Dong Gul Lee, Ho Yun Chung, Jae Woo Park, Byung Chae Cho

¹Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Daegu Fatima Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
²Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Kyungpook National University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. hy-chung@mail.knu.ac.kr

Abstract

Extensive and complicated defects on the body call for an omnipotent tool for a perfect reconstruction. Flaps derived from the omentum has many advantages over the conventional flaps. From 1999 to 2004, Omental flaps were applied for various soft tissue reconstructions. Among total 20 total 7 cases were for immediate reconstruction, 2 cases for chronic infection, 3 cases for simultaneous reconstruction of two defects, 4 cases for functional joint reconstruction and 4 cases were for flow- through revascularization. Among these cases, 3 cases were operated with minimal incision harvest technique. There were no complete flap failures, partial necrosis of the distal parts were noted on three cases. The omental flap is indicated on a large contaminated defect reconstruction due to its large size, well-vascularized, and malleable properties. The omental flap provides several additional advantages over other flaps, which are; the availability of the one staged simultaneous reconstruction of two defects with one flap, providing gliding function for the joint motion, and a flow-through characteristics with long vascular pedicle. But there are some serious shortcomings, including a long abdominal scar and intraabdominal problems. However, these are rare and can be minimized with our minimal incision technique. Due to its unique characteristics. the omentum is one of the ideal tissues for the reconstruction of the complicated soft tissue defects due to its unique characteristics.

Keywords: Omental flap; Soft tissue reconstruction