Donor site morbidity of radial forearm flaps. A clinical and ultrasonographic evaluation.

Harvesting of a forearm flap based on the radial artery has been thought to cause functional or circulatory problems in the donor hand. Eighteen patients were examined three to 24 months after a radial forearm flap had been raised. The function of both hands was studied for grip strength, mobility of the wrist and elbow joints, and sensitivity of the area served by the superficial radial nerve. The patients were interviewed and the cosmetic result was evaluated. Duplex ultrasonography and colour Doppler ultrasonography of both ulnar arteries were done, and the brachial arteries were measured as controls. Angle-corrected peak flow velocity (cm/s) in the ulnar artery of the donor forearm was significantly increased at the level of the wrist compared with the control forearm (100.9 compared with 73.1 cm/s, p = 0.017), as was the ulnar: brachial peak flow velocity ratio (1.18 compared with 0.76, p = 0.001). The grip strength of the donor hand was weaker by 11.9% (86.5 compared with 72.2 Kp), 10 (56%) had areas of sensory loss over the radial nerve distribution, and seven of the 18 patients complained of cold intolerance. Four patients considered the donor site result so bad that they would not have chosen the operation had they known what the result would look like. The radial forearm flap donor site is not without problems, and the patients must be carefully selected and properly informed preoperatively.