Effect of hyperbaric oxygen on pedicle flaps with compromised circulation

The effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on the survival rate of experimental rat pedicle island flaps with arterial, venous, and combined arteriovenous insufficiency was evaluated. Forty male Wistar rats with pedicle island flaps were divided into four groups with different types of vascular status. Another 40 male Wistar rats, also divided into four groups, were reconstructed in the same manner, but were also exposed to HBO. The results were evaluated using a laser Doppler flowmeter and an estimation of the length of the surviving tissue of the flaps. In evaluations using Kruskal-Wallis test, there was a significant difference in the survival tissue length and mean LD flows among our four untreated groups (P < 0.05). We considered the experimental model defined by Tzusuki and colleagues suitable for our study. Using a Mann-Whitney test, the differences in flap tissue survival length between each type of vascular insufficiency of HBO-treated and untreated groups was significant (P < 0.05). This finding indicates that the survival length was directly improved by the HBO treatment for all type of vascular insufficiency. HBO treatment increased the percentage of survival length and mean LD flows of axial pattern skin flaps with all type of vascular insufficiency. This effect, however, was greatest in the arterial insufficiency flaps.