Applications of microvascular surgery

The advent of microvascular surgery has radically changed the discipline of human reconstructive surgery over the last decade. The ability to anastomose vessels less than 1 mm in diameter allows the distant transfer of tissues with a known blood supply from one area of the body to another. These tissues can be detached from their local blood supply and reperfused by anastomosing vessels supplying the tissue transfer to vessels near the recipient site. This technique has been used to transfer a variety of tissues and combinations of tissues including skin, muscle, bone, and bowel to solve a variety of difficult reconstructive problems. Applications, potential applications, and problems associated with microvascular free tissue transfer will be discussed in this chapter.