[Free omental autografts revascularized by microsurgery (author's transl)]

The greater omentum is good plastic material and supplies richly vascularized connective tissue for transplants. Some superficial and deep lesions of the soft tissues require extensive excision, and in favorable cases it is possible to use the greater omentum pedicled as described by Kiricuta. Two such cases are reported. In other cases a free transplant of omentum revascularized by microsurgical methods has to be used. This procedure was employed in ten patients and allowed repair of lesions with wide or deep loss of tissue under excellent conditions. An intermediate saphenous graft was necessary in one case. A dermoepidermal graft was applied at the same time in order to obtain results more rapidly. Progress made in microsurgical techniques has allowed omentum revascularization to be carried out under much safer conditions and this procedure should be employed more frequently.