SIGNAL AVERAGING AND WAVE-FORM ANALYSIS OF LASER-DOPPLER FLOWMETRY MONITORING OF PORCINE MYOCUTANEOUS FLAPS .1. ACUTE ASSESSMENT OF FLAP VIABILITY

Postoperative monitoring of microvascular free-tissue transfer is esse ntial to the early identification and correction of vascular compromis e, Laser Doppler flowmetry is a noninvasive monitor of capillary bed p erfusion, Its current clinical use requires continuous monitoring and trend analysis to detect changes in capillary perfusion, This study in vestigated the hypothesis that signal averaging of laser Doppler flowm etry output triggered by a fixed point in the cardiac cycle would prov ide accurate information about the microvascular flow patterns not dep endent on trend analysis. These results indicate that averaged wavefor m analysis allowed for a rapid, objective, and statistically significa nt distinction between a viable myocutaneous flap and one with vascula r compromise in a porcine model, Moreover, this technique allows for d istinction between venous and arterial insufficiency.