Comparison between the early use of skin flap and skin graft for the correction of large tissue loss at the elbow.

Six patients with soft and hard tissue injuries of the elbow region during the 1973 Yom-Kippur war are discussed. These six patients were treated with two types of procedures. One group was initially treated with application of a split-thickness skin graft followed by a thoracoabdominal, abdominal, or chest skin flap. The second group was initially treated with the application of a thoracoabdominal flap. There are few descriptions in the literature or in textbooks of the plan design method, nor are there comparisons of two types of procedures. In both groups the end results were the same. The differences were the time of hospitalization and the cooperation of the patients during treatment. In both groups the flap was transferred before further surgical reconstruction of bones and joints.