[Elimination of large fenestrated tracheal defects with use of microsurgical technique]

Operations on the trachea usually entail cutting or dissection of its wall, which requires further elimination of the developed defects. The application of a primary tracheal anastomosis is not always feasible. A number of methods for elimination of large defects of the trachea are not devoid of shortcomings. An original method for elimination of the defects of respiratory ways with the use of revascularized osteo-cutaneous radial complex flap has been developed and used in 8 patients. The sizes of the eliminated defects varied from 8.0 x 2 to 4 x 1.5 cm. The vessels of the grafts were anastomozed with facial vessels by microsurgical technique. This procedure allowed to avoid multistaged treatment mode and the newly formed tracheal wall possessed adequate regidity for breathing. The cutaneous part of the flap was quite fit for substitution of the tracheal mucosa. The method of harvesting the autograft is quite safe, the damage to the donor site in the arm is negligible.