A. Bocchi et al., Reverse fasciosubcutaneous flap versus distally pedicled sural island flap: Two elective methods for distal-third leg reconstruction, ANN PL SURG, 45(3), 2000, pp. 284-291
In case of soft-tissue injury to the distal third of the leg, a safe and ef
fective repair technique should be adopted. The use of complex procedures s
uch as free flaps and cross-leg flaps is not always advisable. The authors
present two methods that have proved to be both reliable and effective in o
btaining longlasting satisfactory results: the reverse fasciosubcutaneous s
ural flap and the reverse fasciocutaneous island sural flap. Since 1992 the
authors have operated on 25 patients affected by traumatic tissue loss of
the distal third of the leg and the calcaneal region. They used the fascios
ubcutaneous flap in 14 patients and the sural flap in 11. Both of these fla
ps are technically simple, safe, and effective, and cause minimal injury to
the donor site. The sural flaps are more useful for moderate-size wounds,
especially in the calcaneal region, whereas the fasciosubcutaneous flap is
better for repairing larger lesions of the leg and the ankle.