Clinical effect of free anterolateral thigh flap combined with arterial vascular reconstruction on repairing high-voltage electrical burn wound on the wrist

Objective To explore the clinical effect of free anterolateral thigh flap combined with arterial vascular reconstruction on repairing high-voltage electrical burn wound of type Ⅱ and Ⅲ on the wrist. Methods From May 2016 to February 2019, 25 patients with deep high-voltage electrical burn wounds on the wrist were admitted to Zhengzhou First People′s Hospital, including 23 males and 2 females, aged 11-63 years. Among them, 4 cases had bilateral electrical burns on the wrist, and 21 cases had unilateral electrical burns on the wrist. There were 29 wounds in 29 affected limbs with depth of full-thickness to full-thickness with tendon and bone exposure, and 17 wounds were type Ⅱ and 12 wounds were type Ⅲ. Twenty-four patients underwent CT angiography of the upper extremities before surgery, while the other one patient did not undergo the examination due to seafood allergy. There were no obvious injury to the ulnar and radial arteries in 7 affected limbs, simple ulnar artery injury in 6 affected limbs, simple radial artery injury in 7 affected limbs, and both ulnar and radial arteries injury in 9 affected limbs. The wound areas after debridement were 10 cm×7 cm-36 cm×17 cm, and the free anterolateral thigh flaps were obtained with area of 11 cm×8 cm-37 cm×18 cm for repairing the wounds. For patients with no damage of ulnar artery and radial artery, the trunk of descending branch of lateral circumflex femoral artery of the flap or combined with the thick muscle perforating branch or lateral branch was anastomosed with the ulnar or radial artery of the wound. For patients with simple ulnar artery or radial artery injury, the trunk, lateral branch, or medial branch was anastomosed with the ulnar artery or radial artery of the wound. For patients with long injury of ulnar artery and radial artery, the ulnar artery or radial artery of the wound was reconstructed with one of the above-mentioned methods, the injured artery that was not anastomosed was reconstructed with great saphenous vein, and the transplanted blood vessel was embedded in the lateral femoral muscle. The accompanying vein of the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery of the flap was anastomosed with the accompanying vein of the ulnar artery or radial artery of the wound and/or the cephalic vein. The donor sites of flaps were sutured directly or repaired with split-thickness skin graft from the thigh. The survival condition of flap and affected limb after operation and during follow-up was observed, and hand function of the affected limb during follow-up was evaluated according to the evaluation standard after repair of peripheral nerve injury in upper limbs. Results Fifteen affected limb wounds had tissue liquefaction but healed after second debridement on 14-28 days after flap repair operation. All 29 flaps survived in the end. One patient had long ulnar artery and radial artery injuries in affected limbs and the hand was necrotic due to second embolism of the blood vessel in 1 week post operation, and the remaining affected limbs survived. During the follow-up of 6 to 30 months after operation, the flaps were slightly bloated, the affected limbs were warm with normal blood flow, and finger flexion, wrist flexion, and sensory function of hand recovered to varying degrees. The functions of the survived affected limbs were evaluated as excellent in 8 affected limbs, good in 9 affected limbs, medium in 5 affected limbs, and poor in 6 affected limbs, with an excellent and good rate of 60.71%. Conclusions The clinical effect of free anterolateral thigh flap combined with arterial vascular reconstruction is good for repairing high-voltage electrical burn wound on the wrist, and the patency restoration of the ulnar artery and/or radial artery of the upper limb in stage Ⅰ is helpful for improving the success rate of limb salvage.