Correction of a Misjudgment of Reference in Grabb and Smith's Plastic Surgery Seventh Edition

To the Editor,

We have carefully read the 7th edition of Grabb and Smith's widely used textbook, Plastic Surgery [1]. We would like to thank the editors for their noble effort. It is an important textbook that contains all of the basic principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery. While reading through the book, we noticed a misjudgment of a reference on page 994, in the section on Sacral Defects. The text is as follows "Some groups have published that their first choice for reconstruction of ischial and sacral pressure sores is free tissue transfer with microvascular anastomosis to the gluteal vessels" with a citation of "Free flaps for pressure sore coverage" by Lemaire et al. [2]. However, in the original article by Lemaire at al. [2], the researchers reported that they used free flaps with very limited indications and multiple or recurrent pressure ulcerations without any local flap options left. Only 6 of 88 patients were reconstructed with free flaps. The authors preferred free flap surgery as the last step of the reconstructive ladder, not as the first-line treatment. It is obvious that there is a misjudgment of the reference. We would like to point out this error for correction in the next edition. In our enthusiasm to assist the textbook editors in the ongoing development of an excellent text, we decided to send this letter to the Editor of the Archives of Plastic Surgery journal, which is followed by plastic surgeons all around the world.