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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
The Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Axial Flap to Study Ischemic Preconditioning Effects in a Rat Model
Published on: January 27, 2023
[Applied anatomy of superficial inferior epigastric artery flap]
Xiaomin Wang1, Kai Zhang, Shiyin Ma
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu Anhui 233000, PR China.
Objective:
To provide the anatomical basis for the application of the superficial inferior epigastric artery flap.
Methods:
Ten cadavers which were immersed in formalin less than 6 months and were perfused by red latex were used in this study. There were 8 males and 2 females with an average age of 58 years (range, 35-78 years). The origin, course, branch, distribution, diameter, pedicle length, and neighbour of superficial inferior epigastric artery and vein were observed in the 2 sides of inguinal region.
Results:
In these series of 10 cadaver (20 sides) dissections, the superficial inferior epigastric artery was identified in 18 sides, which average caliber was 1.48 mm with a mean vascular pedicle length of 4.80 cm. In 11 sides, the superficial inferior epigastric artery arose as part of a common trunk with one or more other vessels; in other 7, it originated from the femoral. There were 4 branch modes of superficial inferior epigastric artery: single trunks (5 sides), double ramification (3 sides), single lateral ramification (7 sides), and single medial ramification (3 sides). The superficial inferior epigastric vein was observed in 20 sides, which average caliber was 2.33 mm with a mean sides pedicle length of 5.45 cm. In 8 sides, the venous drainage was as an individual vein; in 12 sides, both patterns were observed (a pair of venae comitantes and an individual vein).
Conclusion:
The inferior epigastric artery flap can be applied to microsurgical flap transfer, potentially in breast reconstruction, phalloplasty, reconstruction of head, neck and four limbs defects.
