Application of three-dimensional digitalized reconstruction of an anterolateral thigh flap and an arterial dorsalis pedis flap.

ABSTRACT

Developments in the field of digitalized technique and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction methods allowed a precise description of anatomy structures. With the development of Visible Human Project (1989) and Virtual Chinese Human (VCH) techniques, we could get more precise anatomic images. Digitized visible models of these structures can be a useful tool in clinical training. Combining modern radiology and VCH techniques, we designed a method to establish digitized visible models of anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap and arteria dorsalis pedis (ADP) flap from adult fresh cadaver specimens perfused with lead oxide-gelatine mixture and VCH Male III dataset. The 3D reconstructed visible models established from these datasets perfectly displayed the anatomic structures of ALT flap and ADP flap. This is the first report on the ACFL and ADP structures which were reconstructed digitally.