Free Functional Muscle Transfer and One Bone Forearm for Upper-Extremity Limb Salvage After High-Energy Ballistic Trauma.

Upper-extremity limb salvage following high-energy trauma poses unique challenges of massive soft tissue injury in the setting of large bone defects, traumatic segmental neurovascular injuries, and functional deficits. These complex injuries require multidisciplinary care to achieve requisite revascularization, bone stabilization, and preservation of remaining options for soft tissue coverage. This case presents a 45-year-old man who sustained a high-velocity gunshot resulting in a dysvascular limb. Through shared decision-making, upper-extremity limb salvage was pursued. Successful initial limb salvage included a reversed great saphenous vein graft from the brachial artery to the radial artery, followed by one bone forearm with nonvascularized graft from the ipsilateral distal ulna, latissimus dorsi free functioning muscle transfer with an end-to-side anastomosis to the brachial artery proximal to the vein graft, and coaptation of the anterior interosseous donor nerve from the proximal median nerve stump to the thoracodorsal recipient nerve.

A Comparison of Outcomes of Proximal and Distal Anastomosis Sites of the Facial Artery in Head and Neck Reconstruction.

ABSTRACT: Recipient vessel selection in head and neck reconstruction is based on multiple factors, including defect size and location, patient history, and vessel location, diameter, and length. The authors present a comparison of proximal and distal anastomotic sites of the facial artery. A chart review of head and neck reconstructions using the facial artery as a recipient vessel over a 7-year period was conducted. The anastomosis site was identified as distal (at the inferior mandible border) or proximal (at the origin of the artery). The distal site was utilized for both defects of the midface/ scalp and of the mandible/neck, while the proximal site was exclusively used for mandible/neck defects. The following complications were included in the analysis: facial nerve injury, surgical site infection, thrombosis, flap congestion, flap loss, hardware failure, malunion/nonunion, osteomyelitis, sinus/fistula, hematoma, seroma, reoperation, and 90-day mortality. Fifty-four free tissue transfers were performed. The overall complication rate (including major and minor complications) was 53.7%. Anastomosis level did not have a significant impact on complication rate. In addition, there were no significant differences in complication rates for the distal anastomosis site when stratified by defect location. However, obese patients were more likely to have a complication than nonobese patients. This conclusion may reassure surgeons that factors related to anastomosis level, such as vessel diameter and proximity to the zone of injury, have less impact on outcomes than factors like obesity, which may inform preoperative planning, intraoperative decision-making, and postoperative monitoring.

A value analysis of microsurgical lower extremity reconstruction vs. acellular urinary bladder matrix (UBM) for radiation wounds of the lower extremity.

In the USA, external beam radiation is offered to patients as an alternative to surgery for non-melanoma skin cancers. While this technique may be useful in highly specific patient populations, recalcitrant chronic radiation wounds can result. These complex wounds ultimately may require major reconstructive surgery to achieve closure. Porcine urinary bladder matrix (UBM) may be effective in the treatment of radiation wounds and eliminating the need for vascularized tissue transfers. A case report of an elderly male with bilateral radiation wounds of the lower extremity, one extremity treated with free flap reconstruction and the other with porcine urinary bladder matrix, is presented.