The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 65, Issue 6 729-737, Copyright © 1983 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Functional reconstruction of an extremity by free tissue transfer of the latissimus dorsi
PJ Stern, HW Neale, RO Gregory and JJ McDonough
Fifteen lower extremities with large traumatic defects in the soft tissues
were resurfaced by free microvascular transfer of the latissimus dorsi
muscle and overlying skin. This procedure was particularly useful in four
patients in whom a portion of the extremity had been acutely denuded of its
soft-tissue sleeve, leaving exposed bone, joint, or tendon. It was also
effective in eleven patients with chronic lesions who required additional
reconstructive procedures (arthrodesis, internal fixation, bone-grafting,
or tendon-grafting), and in the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis when
infected bone and soft tissue had to be liberally debrided. In the eleven
patients who had chronic osteomyelitis at the time of the transfer (five
with infected, unstable tibial fractures), no subsequent drainage was
evident at an average of twenty-two months' follow-up.