Perfusion dynamics in abdominal skin after free abdominal flap breast reconstruction using internal mammary vessels as recipient vessels. A clinical study using Dynamic Infrared Thermography
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24955Dato
2017-12-28Type
Journal articleTidsskriftartikkel
Peer reviewed
Sammendrag
Methods: The abdomen and anterior thoracic wall of 17 patients scheduled for secondary free abdominal flap breast reconstruction using IMV was pre-, intra-, and postoperatively examined with dynamic infrared thermography. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the rate and pattern of recovery in Huger’s vascular zones were made with each patient being its own control. Zone III on the side where IMV were used was numbered zone IV. The contralateral zone III was used as reference.
Results: Postoperative abdominal skin perfusion in zone IV was always significantly reduced compared with zone III (1-tailed t test, P < 0.05). The difference between zones II and III was statistically significant for day 1 and 3, but not for day 6 (2-tailed t test, P < 0.05). Skin perfusion in zones II and IV increased during consecutive postoperative days with an increase of hot spots in these areas.
Conclusions: Using the IMV in free abdominal flap breast reconstruction had a significant effect on abdominal skin perfusion and may contribute to abdominal wound healing problems. The reperfusion of the abdominal skin was a dynamic process showing an increase in perfusion in the affected areas during the postoperative days.