Evaluation of tests for predicting the viability of axial pattern skin flaps in the pig

The viability of axial pattern skin flaps in pigs was assessed by the use of intravenous fluorescein, intradermal injection of 133Xe in saline, intravenous 51Cr tagged red cells, and angiography. The results were correlated with flap survival at 4 days postoperatively. Intravenous fluorescein provided the most accurate method for prediction of viable tissue at the time of operation. There was no evidence of vascular perfusion in the distal portions of these flaps. These axial pattern flaps differed in their viability from similar flaps in humans, and anastomoses between discrete vascular territories were infrequent in pigskin.