CAPSULAR TISSUE - A NEW LOCAL FLAP

Capsular tissue, the interface that forms between an implanted device and the body's own soft tissues, has recently been shown to develop it s own unique blood supply. This capsular tissue with its extensive vas cular plexus has not been described previously as an isolated flap. Th e purpose of our study was to determine whether an isolated flap of ca psular tissue would survive as a local pedicle flap and provide enough inherent vascularity to support a skin graft. Isolated expanded and n onexpanded capsular flaps were compared by using 20 expanders (10 expa nded and 10 nonexpanded) in two mixed-breed female pigs. Expanded and nonexpanded capsular flaps were elevated 8 weeks following expander pl acement. These flaps were raised on their capsular bases alone, and sk in grafts were placed onto the capsular surfaces. All the expanded cap sular flaps and their skin grafts had 100 percent survival. Skin graft s on the nonexpanded flaps survived an average of 28 percent, with gra ft survival corresponding to flap survival. This study confirms that f laps of isolated expanded capsular tissue survive and provide enough i nherent vascularity to support a split-thickness skin graft.