Free Flap Reconstructions of 100 Tibial Fractures

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Abstract
Reconstructive microsurgery has been part of the treatment for severe tibial fractures for over 20 years. In this study, we have analyzed 100 patients with 104 microvascular reconstructions to the lower leg in a 15-year period (1980-1994). Sixty-three of the reconstructions were made during the past 5 years (1990-1994), which means that microvascular reconstruction is increasing as a treatment of severe tibial fractures. Free flap transfer is a safe procedure: the failure rate among the patients studied was 2%, and the amputation rate was 5%. In the past 5 years, the flap survival rate and the microvascular free flap operation methods were the same as they were in the 1980s, but the methods for enhancing the fracture union or reconstructing the bone defect has changed.