[Fasciocutaneous forearm flaps in the management of the catastrophic hand]

This paper describes a series of cases with severe hand injury that required antebrachial flaps as part of treatment, and their functional results. The clinical records of patients with a diagnosis of traumatic hand injury and major skin cover losses, reconstructed with a reverse-flow forearm flap, were reviewed. The following variables were studied: type of flap, sex, age, mechanism of injury, receiver site, size, adjacent injuries and their treatment, vascular integrity test prior to flap placement, operative time, follow-up and complications. A total of 25 patients were included, with 25 reverse-flow fasciocutaneous forearm flaps; in 15 of them the blood supply was based on the radial artery and in 10 in the posterior interosseous artery. The Allen test was used in 13 cases of radial flaps (RF) to check the integrity of the superficial palmar arch; Doppler ultrasound was used in the remaining two cases. Sixteen cases (64%) underwent bone and tendon reconstruction, four cases (16%) isolated tenorrhaphy of one or several tendons, two cases (8%) isolated osteosynthesis, one case due to electrical burn underwent Littler opponensplasty with a radial flap in the anterior aspect of the wrist (4%), and in two cases (8%) an isolated flap was used. In one 67 year-old patient (4%) there was congestion and total loss of the posterior interosseous flap. The recommended indications for this type of flap are: coverage of the distal forearm, hand dorsum and fingers, first interdigital space, palmar region of the wrist and hand. Only two cases required coverage of the palmar region of the wrist and hand, and they were both treated with radial flaps, probably for reasons of anatomical convenience.