Arterialized Venous Skin Flaps - Wheeless' Textbook of Orthopaedics

- Discussion:
- consist of subQ vein along w/ skin, & usually are taken from flexor side of distal forearm or the dorsal aspect of foot;
- vein is interposed between missing segments of the distal artery;
- this restores circulation and covers the skin defect;
- there are several variations of procedure:
- both ends of the vein in the skin flap are anastomosed to vein in the finger;
- one end of vein in the flap is anastomosed to an artery in finger and the other end of the
vein flap is anastomosed to a vein in finger;
- both ends of the vein in skin flap are anastomosed to an artery in the finger;
- when skin defect is accompanied by injury to the digital artery, the venous skin flap
is positioned between the two healthy segments of artery;
- both microsurgical & conventional techniques continue to play important role in hand reconstruction after trauma;