A systematic review of the applications of free tissue transfer for paediatric lower limb salvage following trauma.

BACKGROUND

Since the advent of microsurgical free tissue transfer in the 1960s, it has now become an indispensable part of limb salvage surgery. However, its application in children was initially met with concerns regarding vessel diameter, increased potential for vasospasm and its potential impact on normal growth and development. This resulted in its restriction to specialist paediatric facilities. With improvements and greater confidence in microsurgical techniques, more units are starting to rewrite the initially popularised narrative regarding free tissue transfer in paediatric limb salvage following trauma. A systematic review was undertaken, using the PRISMA criteria for systematic reviews, of all published literature relating to the use of free flaps in paediatric lower limb salvage following trauma.

METHODS

Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined and Medline, Embase, PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched from inception to September 2014 with the following search terms: "free tissue transfer", "free flaps", "microvascular free tissue transfer", "paediatric/pediatric", "children", "lower limb", "trauma" and "reconstruction".

RESULTS

A total of 375 studies were retrieved following the electronic database search, of which 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. Two further studies were found via a hand-search of the reference lists of the retrieved studies. A total of 25 studies were, thus, included in the review.

CONCLUSIONS

This study presents a synthesis of the literature available on the indications, timing, selection, viability, complications and functional outcome of free tissue transfer following lower limb trauma in paediatric patients. Limitations of current studies with potential areas for further research are also discussed.