Immediate Reconstruction of a Soft-Tissue Defect in a Burn Patient whit a Peroforator-Based Propeller Flap: A Case Report

Abstract

Soft tissue reconstruction of the distal lower leg is a challenging issue for plastic surgeons. Immediate coverage of exposed anatomical structures with soft tissue after trauma prevents these structures from being infected, and this is very important for burn patients. Free flaps have recently been accepted as the gold-standard technique for ankle and foot reconstruction; however, this is changing with the increasing popularity of the perforator flaps. Today, perforator flaps are commonly performed for the reconstruction of the soft-tissue defects across the body. In this report, we want to present the reconstruction of a soft-tissue defect case using perforator-based propeller flap in a burn patient for immediate reconstruction. A 45-year-old male patient had a soft-tissue defect over the medial side of the ankle and foot due to a high-voltage electrical burn. The exposed bone tissue was covered with a propeller flap of 15×6 cm size, without any circulation problems during the postoperative period. In conclusion, we want to state that perforator-based propeller flaps are reliable, successful, and effective techniques for the immediate reconstruction of distal leg and foot. These flaps can be easily performed without requiring any microsurgical technique thus, they can be commonly performed by most of the plastic surgeons.

Keywords

• Burn reconstruction
• perforator flap
• propeller flap