Reconstruction of complex groin defects with inferior epigastric artery-based rectus abdominis muscle flaps: report of two cases

Abstract

Because the extremities are dependent on a single vascular supply, namely the brachial and femoral arteries, injuries around the girdles are challenging, and may contribute to high morbidity rates such as extremity loss, or even mortality due to bleeding, sepsis or vascular compromise. The reconstruction or aided closure of these regions may present additional technical difficulties in the presence of a vascular injury that complicates the use of a microvascular-free transfer, which sometimes may be needed to cover the exposed vessels, bones, tendons, and cartilages whenever the neighboring skin and subcutaneous tissue are inadequate or demised. In these circumstances, pedicled regional flaps of muscular or musculocutaneous consistency (especially if a bulk or rich vascular tissue is needed) would be an alternative. In this report, we present two cases that underwent femoral artery repair via saphenous vein grafting in the vascular surgery clinic followed by our inferiorly based pedicled rectus abdominis muscle flap coverage procedure.