Fascial flaps based on perforators for reconstruction of defects in the distal forearm

Abstract

Twenty fascial flaps were used in the reconstruction of defects in the distal forearm, wrist and hand in 18 patients over a 2-year period. In 16 patients the fascial flaps were based on a single fascial feeding vessel or 'perforator' arising from the anterior interosseous artery and/or ulnar artery when the radial artery had been used as the donor vessel in free flap reconstruction elsewhere in the body. There was no loss of any fascial flap in the study. The use of fascial flaps based on fascial feeders of the anterior interosseous and ulnar arteries extends the range of fascial flaps that can be raised in the forearm for reconstruction of defects in the distal forearm, wrist and hand.