[1984-1994: Ten years of skin flaps. Prefabricated flaps]

The term prefabrication of flaps corresponds to completely different technical modalities, often complementary and associated, which share the common feature of extending the indications and potential of pedicle or free flaps. Current methods of prefabrication of flaps can be considered to be based on one or several basic principles of reconstructive surgery. The authors discuss and analyse various modalities: a free flap can be made autonomous or can be expanded prior to transfer. A transfer can be initially prefabricated at its donor site by performing several operative steps in situ. A free transfer can be performed on the main vascular axis of a flap which is subsequently transferred, for example: free scalp transfer to reconstruct an eyebrow on a donor site reconstructing half of the face, but the first in situ operative phase usually consists of performing cutaneous, bone, cartilaginous or even alloplastic material transplants. The transfer is only performed after a sufficiently satisfactory complex anatomical, functional or esthetic unit has been achieved, in order to avoid difficult or dangerous remodeling operations after transfer. The most revolutionary appearance in the area of prefabrications is certainly induction of a pedicle or free neoflap in a so-called random territory. The addition of an arteriovenous pedicle associated with fascia underneath a muscle, underneath a skin cover, in contact with an osteoperiosteal segment allows a perfectly transferable neovascularized unit to be obtained after several weeks. All of the procedures described: autonomization before transfer, expansion before transfer, in situ prefabrication of a complex unit by addition of several tissue units (autologous or alloplastic) in one or several stages and finally vascular induction of a muscular, cutaneous or bone unit, etc. by transfer of a vascular axis in contact with this anatomical structure and combinations of these various modalities obviously open up a new approach which will considerably extend the already remarkable possibilities offered by free tissue transfers.