Lateral Arm Free Flap With Preservation of the Posterior Antebrachial Cutaneous Nerve.

Abstract

The lateral arm free flap offers many advantages in reconstruction of soft tissue defect and reconstruction of extremities. However, this free flap is associated with sensory loss at the posterior forearm due to injury of the posterior antebrachial cutaneous nerve (PABCN).The PABCN-sparing lateral arm free flaps were performed in 19 patients with various soft tissue defects of the extremity, and the outcomes of free flap reconstructions using this modification are evaluated. All flaps survived without partial necrosis. Three patients experienced transient sensory loss in the posterior area of the forearm after flap harvest.In this study, lateral arm free flaps can be elevated without necessarily sacrificing the PABCN. This nerve-sparing modification decreases the donor-site morbidity of lateral arm free flaps and further increases the overall usefulness of this flap in soft tissue reconstructions of the extremities.