Zf. Xiu et Zj. Chen, THE MICROCIRCULATION AND SURVIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL FLOW-THROUGH VENOUSFLAPS, British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 49(1), 1996, pp. 41-45
The subject of venous flaps is controversial. The purpose of this stud
y was to investigate the haemodynamic changes and the survival process
of venous flow-through flaps. Venous flaps and composite grafts were
elevated along the axis of the thoracoepigastric veins in rabbits. The
microcirculation was studied by capillaroscopy and injection studies.
For the first 72 h, the flaps were nourished by venous blood; venous
blood flowed slowly from the principal vein to its tributary veins and
then through venous anastomoses to reach other tributary veins. No ba
ckflow from venules into capillaries was seen. New vessels began to gr
ow into the flaps from 72 h postoperatively. Four days postoperatively
, arterial flow with low velocity was seen in the primary flap arterie
s and the backflow of venous blood disappeared. Seven days postoperati
vely, the abnormal flow in ''unphysiological'' channels was replaced b
y normal flow in ''physiological'' channels. Six weeks postoperatively
, the vessel structure of venous flaps was the same as that of normal
skin. These results suggest that the profuse venous network in venous
flaps and early invasion of new blood vessels are the mainstays of ven
ous flap survival.