ISOTOPE PERFUSION AND INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY OF ARTERIALIZED, VENOUS FLOW-THROUGH AND PEDICLED VENOUS FLAPS

In an experimental study on the epigastric venous system of rats, we e xamined three types of venous flaps with regard to their perfusion and long-term results: arterialised venous flaps, flow-through venous fla ps and venous island flaps. We documented afferent and efferent blood how with radiolabelled substances and blood distribution with infrared thermography. By measuring the surviving flap surfaces after 4 months , the relative success rate for each flap type was determined. The res ults show that in the chosen model the entire surface of the arteriali sed venous flap had a survival rate of 92.7%, the flow-through venous flap 62.4%, and the venous island flap about 31%, The venous island fl aps had the worst distribution of intravenously injected (125)J-Fibrin ogen, and it was significantly worse in ah types of venous flaps than in standard epigastric flaps; moreover, the clearance of intracutaneou sly injected Tc-99m was the lowest in venous island flaps. The infrare d thermographic study showed that the blood in the arterialised venous flaps dispersed faster and over a larger area than in flow-through ve nous and island flaps. Given these results, we conclude that arteriali sed venous flaps are the safest form of venous flaps, whereas venous i sland flaps carry a high risk of partial or total necrosis.