COMPARISON OF LASER-DOPPLER FLOWMETRY AND THERMOMETRY IN THE POSTOPERATIVE MONITORING OF REPLANTATIONS

Reliable postoperative monitoring in microvascular surgery is necessar y to improve the success rate of reexplorations following vascular com promise. Surface thermometry is known as an easy and inexpensive objec tive postoperative monitor and therefore is used by many microsurgeons . Reliability, however, is not satisfactory, and therefore several oth er instrumental methods have been tested of which laser Doppler flowme try shows the most promising results. This study compared laser Dopple r flowmetry to thermometry in the postoperative monitoring after repla ntation surgery. In 34 patients, 45 replantations and revascularizatio ns were monitored by laser Doppler flowmetry and thermometry. A reliab le alarm value of 10 PU was defined for replantations and revasculariz ations, with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 94%. Thermometr y showed a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 86% at 29 degrees C .