Veterinary Wound Healing Association 5th Congress, Hannover, Germany. May 10-12 2001
| Return to index of Abstracts | About the VWHA |
| AXIAL PATTERN FLAPS USED FOR CORRECTION OF LARGE SKIN DEFECTS Dr.med.vet. Safwat El-M. ALI Veterinary Surgery Tierärztliche Klinik Rahlstedter str.156 22143 Hamburg-Rahlstedt Phone : 040 – 6772144 Fax : 040 – 6773798 Large skin wounds can occur from trauma directly to the skin or its blood supply or secondary to necrotizing skin disease . Skin flaps or grafts are indicated when wound healing is not progressing. The present study was performed on a total of 8 dogs and 3 cats with different skin defects. These cases were presented to the small animal educational hospital in Hamburg-Rahlstedt. In each case several factors will be considered before deciding a creation of skin flap such as: Viability of adjacent tissue, systemic illness that may affect wound healing, function of the affected area of the body, tolerance of the wound by the animal, and feasibility of long-term bandaging of the affected part . The surgical technique was performed in all the cases by preparing the recipient bed preoperatively to ensure that the area is free of infection, foreign material, and necrotic tissue. The length and width of the axial supported rotating flap vary according the body-form of the patient and the individually anatomical situation. The flap should be as short as possible. The flap was designed that the base is slightly wider than the width and to fill the defect without tension. The flap was created by sharply incising along the pre-planed donor skin margins and fixed with stay sutures. The results indicated that our axial rotational flaps in all the cases were healed without any complications. The Axial pattern flaps were based upon many direct cutaneous arteries and veins and have a good functional result in comparison with the other skin grafts. The caudal superficial axial pattern flap is commonly selected for large defects of the proximal thigh and flank in most of our cases. Return to index of Abstracts | About the VWHA |