Chimeric gastrocnemius muscle and sural artery perforator local flap.

Abstract

Under special circumstances, a chimeric form of combined flap can be advantageous. The formation of such a combination should be possible with any muscle perforator flap and its underlying muscle as a branch-based form of chimeric flap. In 2 patients with knee infections, this concept facilitated the use of local flaps only to simultaneously allow deep obliteration within the knee joint with the muscle portion while providing tension-free skin closure. Specifically, a chimeric gastrocnemius muscle and sural artery perforator flap, the latter based on either the medial or lateral sural source vessels, provided this reasonable solution. This is yet another new example of branch-based chimeric flaps, where the cutaneous component is a muscle perforator flap.