Management of postirradiation recurrent enterocutaneous fistula by muscle flaps.

Occasionally surgeons have to operate on patients who have had previous abdominal or pelvic operations and irradiations for malignancies. Bowel resection with primary anastomosis under these circumstances is fraught with major complications such as anastomotic breakdown with intra-abdominal sepsis or recurrent enterocutaneous fistula, which are refractory to conventional management. New techniques for using vascularized muscle flaps from a distant nonirradiated field to achieve safe repair of the bowel defects in three such instances are presented.