Senchenkov Alex, Agag Richard L, Lee Johnson, Patel Ashit, Valerio Ian L
Division of Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN.
Division of Plastic Surgery, Albany Medical College, 43 New Scotland Avenue MC 190, Albany, NY.
Microsurgery. 2015 May;35(4):290-4. doi: 10.1002/micr.22326. Epub 2014 Sep 16.
Anterolateral thigh (ALT) free flaps can result in donor site wounds that cannot be closed directly, requiring immediate or delayed split-thickness skin grafting. The use of skin grafts for such wounds can impose postoperative activity restrictions and additional wound morbidity. The purpose of the study was to investigate the efficacy of continuous external tissue expander (CETE) in achieving staged direct closure of these wounds. Outcomes of 20 ALT free flap cases with flap widths up to 15 cm treated with CETE were retrospectively reviewed. Closure of the thigh wounds was achieved in 19 cases with an average expansion time of 9.6 days. The use of a CETE device was effective in achieving staged direct (tertiary) closure and avoiding skin grafting, which further decreased donor site morbidity of large ALT free flap reconstructions.
