DISTAL VASCULAR PEDICLE-HEMISOLEUS TO TIBIAL LENGTH RATIO AS A MAIN PREDICTIVE INDEX IN PREOPERATIVE FLAP PLANNING

The management of severe compound tibial fractures is aimed at obtaini ng osseous consolidation, proper cutaneous and muscular cover, absence of infection and restoration of limb function. A knowledge of the cut aneous and muscular vascularisation allows the surgeons to use many fl aps in a rational and predictable manner. One of the most commonly use d flaps is the soleus muscular flap. This may be used as a proximally or distally based muscular flap and the use of a hemisoleus flap has a lso been described. A morphometric analysis of the relation between ti bial length and soleus vascular pattern provides a simple and reliable method for planning this flap preoperatively. The study was performed on fresh and preserved cadavers.