Free groin flap revisited

• Published in: Plastic and reconstructive surgery (1963) Vol. 103; no. 3; pp. 918 - 924
• Main Authors: COOPER, T. M, LEWIS, N, BALDWIN, M. A
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01-03-1999
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Ear Neoplasms - surgery; Ear, External - surgery; Face - surgery; Facial Hemiatrophy - surgery; Female; Foot - surgery; Foot Injuries - surgery; Graft Survival; Groin; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Postoperative Complications; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures - methods; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgical Flaps; Human; Reconstruction; Indication; Plastic surgery; Male; Thorax; Inguinal; Case study; Treatment; Surgery; Adolescent; Classification; Free flap; Transfer; Head and neck; Adult; Female; End; Technique
• ISSN: 0032-1052; 1529-4242
• DOI: 10.1097/00006534-199903000-00022

Reported herein are 130 consecutive cases of free groin flap transfer performed by one surgeon over a 19-year period. Transplantation was performed for soft-tissue cover or augmentation of contour defects involving the head and neck (68 cases), trunk (4 cases), upper limb (14 cases), and lower limb (44 cases). Indications for flap coverage/augmentation were classified broadly into tumor, trauma, radiation induced, and miscellaneous. Specific reconstructive problems included augmentation for Romberg's hemifacial atrophy, external ear canal reconstruction after tumor ablation, and coverage of lower limb defects. There were nine failures (total flap loss), seven cases of partial flap loss, and two cases were abandoned intraoperatively. Of 15 cases that were urgently re-explored, 9 flaps were salvaged. The failure rate for the groin flap series (130 cases) was 8.5 percent compared with the failure rate of 4.2 percent for the other 517 cases of microvascular transfer performed over the same period by the same surgeon. Donor-site complications occurred in 24 cases and included hematoma or seroma formation, hypertrophic scars, nerve paresthesiae, infection, and dehiscence. Secondary debulking procedures were performed in 26 cases. The free groin flap, contrary to some reports, is a reliable flap that provides relatively thin pliable soft-tissue cover or augmentation, with minimal donor-site morbidity. The specific indications for its use have undergone an evolution since first described in 1973.