BLOOD-SUPPLY OF THE TENSOR FASCIAE LATAE MUSCLE

The tensor fasciae latae (TFL) muscle has been successfully harvested as a myocutaneous flap in reconstructive surgery. Reports on the vascu lar supply of this muscle, however, are incomplete or inconclusive. Th erefore the arterial pattern was examined by dissection in 100 injecte d human cadaveric specimens. It was observed that whereas 67 muscles w ere supplied exclusively by a single vessel derived from the ascending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral (LCF) artery, 13 were suppli ed by a secondary vessel derived from the same branch, while 20 muscle s were supplied by two vessels, the larger one arising as before and t he smaller from the descending branch of the LCF. Our observations rev eal that although the majority of TFL muscles are clinically Type I (o ne vascular pedicle) according to the classification of Mathes and Nah ai (1981), 20% are actually Type II (major and minor vascular pedicles ). (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.