The movement of potential tumour margins with random flap reconstruction-a porcine skin demonstration.

Aim: To demonstrate with a visual model the movement of potential tumour recurrence margins with different random flap reconstruction methods.

Methods: A porcine skin model was marked using a skin marker with a tumour and four quadrant margins. Each quadrant was marked in a different color around the tumour. The lesion was excised and repaired using different random flap reconstruction methods; finger, rotation, rhomboid and O-Z flaps.

Results: A clear visual demonstration of the relative movement of the edges is seen using the pig-skin model; this is shown with sequence photography. The finger, rotation, and rhomboid flap all create a double margin alignment and an edge free of tumour margins; the O-Z repair produces a linear repair with margins opposing each other.

Discussion: The study clearly illustrates the movement of margins when repairing a defect with a random flap. The different flap reconstruction methods are shown to produce areas of the final scar in which double tumour margins exist. Knowledge of the movement of margins is clinically important when re-excision of tumour scars is considered or when following up patients clinically.