Skin Flap Tension and Wound Slough: Correlation with Laser Doppler Velocimetry

The effects of wound tension on flap viability and blood flow are investigated in an animal model using the domestic piglet. In flaps with an impaired blood supply, wound closing tensions >250 g resulted in a significantly increased incidence of flap necrosis. The laser Doppler is a device of recent origin for the measurement of cutaneous blood flow. In this study, it provided a simple quantitative measure of the inverse relationship between skin tension and blood flow.