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Surgical flaps in the chest: anatomic considerations, applications, and radiologic appearance
M Bhalla1, J C Wain, J A Shepard
1Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
Purpose:
To determine the frequency of use of surgical flaps--tissue that is transposed from its normal location to promote healing and prevent complications--in noncardiac thoracic surgery and to demonstrate the typical radiologic appearances of such flaps.
Materials And Methods:
The surgical records of 200 patients who underwent thoracotomy or median sternotomy for noncardiac thoracic surgery were reviewed. Postoperative radiologic studies of randomly selected cases were also reviewed.
Results:
A total of 213 surgical flaps were used in these patients, including 80 pericardial fat pad flaps (37.6%), 78 greater omental flaps (36.6%), 21 intercostal muscle flaps (9.9%), 16 anterior serratus muscle flaps (7.5%), and 18 greater pectoral muscle, latissimus dorsi muscle, pleural, thymic, or mediastinal fat flaps (8.5%). The flaps produced unusual opacity or attenuation and/or contour of the mediastinum, hilum, or chest wall.
Conclusion:
Knowledge of common thoracic surgical flaps is helpful in interpretation of postoperative radiologic studies.