Lateral gastrocnemius myocutaneous flap transposition to the midlateral femur: extending the arc of rotation.

We report the successful use of an extended lateral gastrocnemius myocutaneous flap for coverage of the midlateral femur using successive delayed elevations. A 62-year-old man underwent wide resection of a liposarcoma of the right anterior thigh with free flap reconstruction and subsequent radiation therapy 10 years before. Four years later, the patient fractured his irradiated femur and was treated with a retrograde intramedullary nail, which subsequently became infected, causing osteomyelitis of the distal femur, septic arthritis of the knee joint, and nonunion of his pathologic fracture. Although advised by numerous surgeons to undergo above-knee amputation, we offered our motivated patient a multidisciplinary approach to clear his infection and pathology; implanted new orthopedic hardware; performed delayed flap reconstruction; and rehabilitated him back to painless, unassisted ambulation. The extended lateral gastrocnemius myocutaneous flap used provided perfused soft tissues and durable coverage for the patient's exposed orthopedic hardware of the midlateral femur, 14 cm above the joint line of the knee. By using this flap to cover a femur defect well above published heights, our patient avoided amputation after years of worsening incapacitation.