I. Kinnunen et al., Changes in blood flow in the partially elevated epigastric pedicled flap in response to occlusion of the femoral artery in rats, J RECON MIC, 17(5), 2001, pp. 371-377
In this study, the authors used a custom-designed clamping method and laser
Doppler flowmetry to investigate the short-term autoregulatory patterns of
blood flow (BF) in partially elevated pedicled epigastric flaps in rats (n
=11). The femoral artery was clamped for 30, 60, 120 and 180 sec directly a
fter flap elevation and 40 to 80 min after flap elevation. Changes during a
nd after clamping indicate the functioning of autoregulatory factors in the
vessels of the epigastric partially elevated flap. The longer the clamp is
chemia is in a flap, the greater (p < 0.0001) is the need for a compensator
y increase in BF and for a longer time (p < 0.0001) in the flap after clamp
release. They compared the responses of BF directly after flap elevation w
ith those 40 to 80 min after flap elevation. The results suggest a signific
ant increase in the autoregulatory capacity of the pedicled partially eleva
ted flap in measurements performed 40 to 80 min after flap elevation (p = 0
.043). They conclude that the novel clamping method seems to be reliable wh
en studying the short-term autoregulatory patterns of the epigastric partia
lly elevated pedicled flap.