[Fasciocutaneous bridge flap to cover defects on the lower leg after compartment syndrome with a complication-prone course : An "almost" forgotten safe flap procedure].

Abstract

This article reports on a complicated case of a soft tissue defect with challenging soft tissue coverage on the lower leg. After a lower leg fracture and treatment with a tibial nail, a 29-year-old man developed compartment syndrome due to massive secondary bleeding with a lesion of the common peroneal nerve and muscle necrosis around the fibular muscles. The initial coverage with split skin showed no tendency to heal, so the patient was admitted to this hospital with a soft tissue defect of approximately 25 cm × 10 cm on the lateral lower leg with an exposed tibia over a length of 15 cm. The primary attempt was coverage with a split-thickness skin graft after secondary granulation; however, due to the previously damaged vascular supply, the wound demonstrated a delayed incomplete healing over 8 months. In addition, X‑ray imaging revealed a nonunion and a resulting screw fracture of the two distal locking screws. The indications for revision surgery to treat the fracture and change the implant were fulfilled. In the same procedure, the residual cutaneous defects were closed. Given the previously complication-prone course and a difficult local blood flow situation, the choice of reconstruction procedures was limited. A bridge flap of the medial lower leg was performed in an interdisciplinary approach. The lifting defect was covered with split-thickness skin. In this way, the wound was finally adequately covered after 1 year.