The treatment of a post-burn deformity and contracture of the neck, using extended flaps with axial type of blood supply

Experience of treatment of 24 patients, suffering neck deformity and contracture, using stretched flaps with axial type of blood circulation, was summarized. In total 43 expanders were implanted. The cutaneo-fascial flaps stretching was performed in the neck and thorax. In all the flaps a nutrition artery was included. The neck-brachial flaps, including supraclavicular artery, were applied in 25 (58.1%) patients, the neck-thoracic flaps, using superficial neck artery--in 12 (27.91%), the occipital-neck flaps on a musculocutaneous perforating vessels of occipital artery--in 6 (13.95%). The methods of the expander implantation, the stretching, transposition regimes of plastic material and its fixation were elaborated. The donor sites were closed using stretched tissues, left in place after formation of flaps. Flaps were fixed, using mechanical method of the tissues connection with duplicature formation from deepidermized portion of cicatrix or with polypropylene mesh, which played a role of a dense framework. Then a strong connective tissue bolt was formed, securely fixing transposedstretched tissues. While application of a complex-component vascularized flaps a suppuration have occurred in 3 (6.97%), partial necrosis--in 2 (4.64%) observations. Inclusion of nutritive vessels permit to form large size flaps with a small risk of necrosis occurrence. The stretched perforant flaps application permits to achieve positive result in 95.3% of observations--in immediate and in 81.82%--in far remote period.