[The fasciomusculocutaneous flap at the leg. About 9 clinical cases]

The fasciomusculocutaneous flap at the leg (FMC) include a muscle strip in the classic dissection of the fasciocutaneous flap (FC); this muscle survives only by the musculocutaneous vessels perforators. This muscle improves the trophic quality of the classic FC flap and allows him to bring easily muscle to the lower third of the leg and sole of the foot. From october 96 to january 2001, 9 posterior FMC flaps have been used in 9 men, their ages were between 22 and 61-years-old, 8 of these flaps were distally based and 1 was proximally based. The muscle strip came from the medial gastrocnemius muscle, its lengh and its width corresponded to the dimension of this muscle but the depth has never exceeded 10-12 mm. The skin defects have a diameter ranging from 7 to 10 cm and were localised in 3 cases in the sole of the foot, in 5 cases in the lower third of the leg with 1 case of tibial osteomyelitis and in 1 case in the external part of the knee. All these defects were secondary to trauma. No complications were reported with this technique. There was no vascular problems with the muscle strip: its bleeding was checked at the operating room and at 3 weeks when the pedicle was severed. All these patients were hospitalized between 4 and 5 weeks. With an average of 30 months follow-up all the defects covered were very satisfying and the case of the osteomyelitis was healed. There is no functional sequellae and the aesthetic sequellae are those of the classic FC flaps at the leg.