Treatment and stabilization of complex wounds involving the pelvic bone, groin, and femur with the inferiorly based rectus abdominis musculocutaneousflap and the use of power color Doppler imaging in preoperative evaluation

The authors present case reports demonstrating the trilevel utility of the inferiorly based rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap in the closure of c omplex wounds involving the pelvis, groin, and femur that had failed previo usly or were not amenable to traditional closure techniques. The use of the rectus abdominis flap was especially advantageous for achieving infection eradication and large dead space closure. Additionally they present the eme rging technique of power color Doppler imaging as a valuable tool in preope rative flap planning. This technique is particularly useful in evaluating t he candidacy for rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap placement of patien ts with a prior history of abdominal surgeries, trauma, infection, irradiat ion, or other conditions that might compromise the patency of the deep infe rior epigastric vessels.