Distally Based Sural Adipofascial Turnover Flap for Coverage of Complicated Wound in the Foot and Ankle Region.

Backgrounds: Distally based perforator propeller flap from the lower leg region is a versatile local reconstructive technique for the foot and ankle defects. However, flap venous congestion remains a tough nut to crack. We hypothesize that raising an adipofascial flap with turnover mode of transposition can improve venous drainage and enhance flap safety.

Methods: Based on the 2 rows of septocutaneous perforators in the posterior distal third of the lower leg, distally based adipofascial flap was raised from medial sural region nourished by 1 perforator bundle from the posterior tibial artery or from the lateral sural region from the peroneal artery. The superficial dissection was performed in subdermal plane and deep in to the subfascial space. The flap was nourished by perforator-plus-adipofascial pedicle and turned over 180 degrees upside down to reach the distal wounds. One week later, a split-skin graft was used to cover the exposed fascial flap. Postoperatively, flap survival, complications, and patient functional recovery were evaluated.

Results: Distally based sural turnover adipofascial flaps were used in 12 cases with complicated wounds of the distal third lower leg, foot, and ankle region. All wounds were caused by trauma and experienced fracture implants fixation and 5 with osteomyelitis. The comorbidities include diabetes in 9 cases and smoking in 7. There were 8 medial ural flaps and 4 lateral sural flaps. The adipofiscial flaps measured from 6.0 cm × 5.0 cm to 17.0 cm × 6.0 cm (mean, 61.3 cm). Postoperatively, all flaps survived uneventfully without any complication such as flap ischemia and/or necrosis. Two minor donor site complications were encountered, one was postoperative hematoma, and another was hyperproliferative scar. After a mean of 14.6 months of follow-up, the adipofascial flap plus skin graft showed a durable esthetic coverage, with normal shoe wearing and walking.

Conclusions: Distally based sural adipofascial turnover flap is a simple and reliable wound coverage technique. It avoids venous congestion as usually seen in distally based fasciocutaneous flaps.