Soft tissue reconstruction. Monitoring

Despite recent advances in technology, no safe and completely reliable monitoring device is available for clinical use. As a result, direct clinical evaluation remains the mainstay of post-operative monitoring efforts. Although we have found this technique to be reliable, we tend to supplement it with Doppler ultrasonography, particularly in those patients in whom the flap remains buried beneath the skin. In patients with replants, we use pulse oximetry as an adjunct to clinical findings. This has proved to be reliable in our experience. However, should any question arise concerning altered tissue perfusion, we remain liberal in our indications for reexploration. The old adage of "better safe than sorry" certainly applies, for it is much easier to reexplore a flap than to lose a potentially salvageable reconstruction. The future remains promising for techniques such as laser Doppler study and various methods of measuring transcutaneous oxygen. However, further experimental and clinical trials are necessary to determine the efficacy of these methods.