Morphological and clinical aspects of scapular fasciocutaneous free flap transfer for treatment of venous insufficiency in the lower extremity

We have recently shown that free scapular fasciocutaneous flaps transferred to the lower extremities of patients with chronic venous insufficiency and cutaneous ulcers have resulted in improvement in venous refilling times measured by photoplethysmography in the flap areas and that recurrent ulceration does not recur for up to 7 years. We hypothesized that the transferred flaps contained valves in their microvascular bed, which facilitated venous return, and using scanning electron microscopy of vascular corrosion casts and light and transmission electron microscopy of tissue sections prepared from human dorsal thoracic fascia, we showed that valves were most abundant in veins with a luminal diameter of 30-120 mu m (59.3% of 905 valves). The depth of these valves increased with venous diameter, but the size of valve sinuses was not different for individual valves. Except for veins >1,000 mu m in diameter, there was no significant difference in the number of valves in different parts of an individual flap or between different flaps. Most valves were bicuspid, only in the vein Category 30-120 mu m were unicuspid valves encountered. Valves were sometimes located in series in a short segment of a vein; occasionally they were found at the merging of two veins. Transmission electron microscopy showed that valve leaflets had collagen fibers that ascended toward the tip of the leaflet and were occasionally accompanied by elastic fibers. Myofibroblasts were regularly present in the valve leaflets. The present report reviews and updates these anatomic data about the human scapular region, focusing on venous valvular microstructure, and suggests that the high number of smaller-size valves contributes to improved hemodynamic of the leg and thus the clinical success of free scapular flaps used to treat cutaneous ulcerations in the lower extremity. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.