Regional Indications

Abstract

The potential benefits of microvascular tissue transplantation are outlined in Sec. 2.1. Free tissue transplantation enables immediate elevation of the injured part, early mobilization in hand cases, and reconstruction in a single operation. As important as all of these factors is the advantage of being able to choose from a variety of different tissues. This allows the surgeon to tailor the surgical solution to the specific nature, site, and size of the clinical problem. A tissue that satisfies a number of requirements can be chosen. The various attributes to be found among the different tissues include variable size, vascularity, the ability to contour to the wound’s dead space, sensation, limited mobility of the flap on the deeper tissues, and the ability to be combined with bone to form a composite transplant for the treatment of combined soft-tissue and bone defects. Once the decision to perform a microvascular transplant has been made, the choice of tissue must be carefully considered.