THE PERITONEAL FREE-FLAP - AN ANATOMIC STUDY

In view of a possible clinical application of an isolated microvascula r peritoneal flap, an anatomic study was performed in order to determi ne the peritoneal vascular territory of the deep inferior epigastric a rtery. For this, the deep inferior epigastric artery was injected unil aterally with Araldite in 30 embalmed cadavers and bilaterally with in dia ink in 15 fresh cadavers. In 70 percent of the embalmed cadavers, a constant pattern of three branches from the deep inferior epigastric artery could be identified. The peritoneal vascular supply is not der ived solely from these three branches but also from multiple small bra nches sprouting directly from the main stem of the deep inferior epiga stric artery and from segmental and muscular branches. Therefore, clas sification of peritoneal branches arising from the deep inferior epiga stric artery colored a similar territory of the parietal peritoneum. C onsidering the magnitude of the peritoneal vascularization by the deep inferior epigastric artery, implementation of an isolated free or ped icled peritoneal flap seems to be possible. Such a microvascular perit oneal flap vascularized by the deep inferior epigastric artery may be used, for example, for reconstruction of mucosal defects in the head a nd neck region.