NERVE SPARING-DISTALLY BASED SURAL FLAP

The management of soft-tissue defects in the ankle and foot area is a challenging task. Distally based sural flap is widely used, however it leaves donor area paresthesia. For this purpose, the sural nerve was dissected and preserved in the distally based sural flap in five cases of ankle and foot soft tissue reconstruction. This modification did not cause any compromise in flap circulation. All flaps survived with one partial distal necrosis. We suggest that, the distally based nerve sparing sural flap can be securely elevated with only a 3-4 cm wide subcutaneous pedicle without any compromise in flap circulation. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery 31:276-280, 2011.