Considerations for Postoperative Results of Pressure Sores around Buttock Region by Musculocutaneous Flaps and Perforator Flaps.

Bae, Seong Hwan; Nam, Su Bong; Kim, Kyung Hoon; Lee, Jae Woo; Oh, Heung Chan; Choi, Soo Jong; Bae, Yong Chan

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2011;38(6):815-820.
Published online November 1, 2011.

Considerations for Postoperative Results of Pressure Sores around Buttock Region by Musculocutaneous Flaps and Perforator Flaps.

Seong Hwan Bae, Su Bong Nam, Kyung Hoon Kim, Jae Woo Lee, Heung Chan Oh, Soo Jong Choi, Yong Chan Bae

Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea. subong71@pusan.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
Perforator flaps have been widely used for reconstruction of pressure sores because they have many benefits, especially reducing tension. Otherwise in order to prevent recurrence of a pressure sore, sufficient thickness of a flap is desirable, so a musculocutaneous flap is also useful for reconstruction of a pressure sore. Therefore, the authors considered about the postoperative results of reconstruction of pressure sores between using perforator flaps and musculocutaneous flaps. METHODS: In this study, 33 patients(46 flaps) who underwent reconstructive operation of pressure sores from January 2007 to February 2011 were reviewed. Patients operated by using perforator flaps were 18(18 flaps), and musculocutaneous flaps were 17(28 flaps). We studied postoperative complications and recurrence.
RESULTS
We experienced five patients(10 flaps) with complications or recurrences who were operated using musculocutaneous flaps and one patient using a perforator flap. One case using a perforator flap stemmed from dehiscence caused by a urinary fistula occurring in two months after the surgery. Among ten cases using musculocutaneous flaps, one case was caused by total necrosis of flap, five cases by partial necrosis of flap and dehiscence, and four cases by recurrences during follow-up period.
CONCLUSION
Even if more cases were required, it can be more considerable to operate using the perforator flap rather than the musculocutaneous flap to reduce the complication or recurrence of pressure sore.

Keywords: Musculocutaneous flap; Perforator flap; Pressure sore