Extracorporeal Free Flap Perfusion in Case of Prolonged Ischemia Time.

In free flap surgery, a clinically established concept still has to be found for the reduction of ischemia-related cell damage in the case of prolonged ischemia. Although promising results using extracorporeal free flap perfusion in the laboratory have been published in the past, until now this concept has not yet paved its way into clinical routine. This might be due to the complexity of perfusion systems and a lack of standardized tools. Here, we want to present the results of the first extracorporeal free flap perfusion in a clinical setting using a simple approach without the application of a complex perfusion machinery.