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Microvascular free-flap salvage of the diabetic foot: a 5-year experience
N S Karp1, A K Kasabian, J W Siebert
1Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, New York University Medical Center, N.Y.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
|November 1, 1994
Abstract:
This study reviews 21 microvascular free flaps to the diabetic foot in 19 patients over a 65-month period. All flaps were either to the plantar surface of the foot or to cover exposed Achilles tendon. Twenty of the flaps survived. The operations required a long, costly hospitalization with frequent recipient- and donor-site complications. All patients eventually ambulated on their flaps. Five patients came to proximal amputation from 6 to 37 months after surgery. Only one amputation was for flap breakdown.