Percutaneous Debridement of and Fibrin Glue Injection Into a Pretibial Morel-Lavallee Lesion A Case Report and Literature Review

The Morel-Lavallee lesion (MLL) is a posttraumatic close degloving injury, which is often underdiagnosed at first. Patients with MLLs usually present with tender and enlarging soft tissue swelling with fluctuation, decreased skin sensation, ecchymosis, or even skin necrosis hours to days after the inciting injury. The lesion can lead to intractable morbidity if it remains untreated. There is no consensus regarding the treatment for MLL at present. Here, we report an MLL in the pretibial region of a 43-year-old woman who experienced a low-energy contusion in a motorbike accident. The pretibial lesion was diagnosed using sonography and fine-needle aspiration. We successfully treated the patient by performing percutaneous debridement via a small incision and injections of fibrin after conservative treatment failed. The method we herein propose achieved the goal of open surgical debridement, providing faster recovery and a high degree of patient comfort. We reviewed the available pertinent literature and propose our own treatment protocol with the aim to establish common therapies of MLL.