Superficial sural artery island flap for management of exposed Achilles' tendon - surgical techniques and clinical results.

OBJECTIVE: Superficial Sural artery island flap is a "island flap" based on vascular axis of the sural nerve which gets reverse blood flow through communication with the perforating branch of the peroneal artery situated in the region of lateral malleolar gutter. Achilles Tendon can be exposed due to trauma, post-operative wound dehiscence, infection etc. This exposed tendon requires immediate coverage to avoid complications. This versatile flap provides an excellent coverage for the exposed tendoachilles and has definitive advantages such as being easy to raise, having a wide range of arc of rotation, not compromising major arteries of the leg, requiring minimal expertise and infra-structural facilities, and having less morbidity to donor site and being a single staged surgery.

METHODOLOGY: Thirty patients with exposed Achilles' tendon were treated with Superficial Sural Island Flap with excellent outcome. The present study was carried out in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics Rehabilitation (NITOR), Sher-e-Banglanagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh between January 2001 to December 2004.