Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 1:40 PM
16683

Preoperative Planning of Perforator Flap Using CT Scan

Laurent Lantieri, MD, Mikael Hivelin, MD, Christophe Lepage, MD, Frederic Pigneur, MD, and Alain Rahmouni, MD, PhD.

The use of CT scan in preoperative planning in DIEP flap has recently been described to facilitate surgery and reducing operative time. The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of CT Scan in planning perforator flap surgery in DIEP ans other flap by comparing to our previous expertise in flaps. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty consecutive patients scheduled for perforator flaps underwent preoperative CT Scan. The images were evaluated to identify, characterize, and map the dominant perforator vessels. Various flap were included DIEP (n=38), thigh anterolateral (N=2) fibula (n=12) SGAP (n= 8). We compared the intraoperative findings with the preoperative CT scan findings. We compare the operative charts of these patient to a similar group of patient operated before the use of CT scan. RESULTS: We found an exact correlation between the intraoperative and radiologic findings in all cases. In the DIEP sub group, the average operating time saved per patient was 1 hour 20 minutes. In the fibula cases the CT scan helped the localisation of the skin perforatior that led to the dissection of the skin padle. For the anterolateral thigh and SGAP flap the scan helped to distinguishe tranmuscular and septal perforator flap. CONCLUSION: CT Scan provides valuable information before surgery about the arterial anatomy of all perforator flap. It enables accurate identification of the most suitable dominant perforator vessel and makes surgical perforator flap procedures faster and more reliable.