[Reconstructive methods in the treatment of soft tissue defects below the knee].

The specificity of the lower leg is in sparse collateral blood flow of the skin cover in the middle and distal part, reduced subcutaneous tissue and the prominence of the front side of tibia immediately under the skin. These characteristics of the lower leg make the application of the standard plastic reconstructive principles, which have been applied in the other regions of the body to a certain degree impossible. The progress of anatomical knowledge in relation to vascularization of the tissue territories--angiosoma, and the anatomy of the vascular skin system of the lower leg, along with the technological progress represented by the application of the surgical microscope, new surgical instruments and suture materials, provides the reconstructive surgeon, not only with classic but also with the modern surgical methods in this region: microvascular transplantation of the tissue and the application of the fasciocutaneous reversible flaps. The aim of this study was to show the available reconstructive methods in the treatment of the lower leg soft tissue and to analyze its application in the management of war wounds in the injured from the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. On the basis of our experiences in the management of war wounds, especially of the lower leg with the tissue defects, we would like to point on the existence of the clear indications for the application of certain reconstructive methods depending on the size, localization and tissue defect structure, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the available reconstructive procedures.