ABSTRACT
A quantitative analysis was undertaken to investigate the width and area of survival
of flow-through venous flaps in 20 ears of 10 rabbits. The 3.0- × 3.0-cm flap models,
which included one flow-through vein, were prepared with additional circulation from
the graft bed and surrounding tissue excluded, as far as possible. The flaps were
divided as follows: Group A- composite grafts (n = 10), and Group B- flow-through
venous flaps (n = 10). All flaps in Group A became necrotic and all those in Group
B showed partial survival along the flow-through vein. The average survival width
was 1.10 ± 0.48 cm, and the survival rate was 44 ± 19.3 percent. Microangiograms revealed
patency of the flow-through vein in all flaps of Group B. Histologically, there tended
to be progressively more fibrous tissue in the area further away from the flow-through
vein. The model is useful to investigate the width and area of survival in flow-through
venous flaps.
