AMELIORATION OF SECONDARY ISCHEMIC-INJURY BY PERFUSION WITH UNIVERSITY-OF-WISCONSIN (UW) SOLUTION IN RAT SKIN FLAPS

This study was designed to observe the effect of perfusion with Univer sity of Wisconsin (UW) preservation solution on skin flap survival fol lowing secondary ischaemia caused by venous obstruction in rats. An ep igastric flap model was used. Saline-perfused flaps exhibited no signi ficant improvement in survival compared to untreated animals (NS). Ski n flaps perfused with UW solution, however, had a significant increase in survival to 40% (8/20) (p < 0.01) when perfused before the onset o f primary ischaemia and 30% (6/20) (p < 0.05) when given before the on set of secondary ischaemia. These results show that UW solution improv es skin flap survival, presumably through preservation of the microvas culature.