Preoperative assessment of medial sural artery perforator flap by color Doppler flow imaging

Objective: To evaluate the application of color Doppler flow imaging(CDFI) in the medial sural artery perforator(MSAP) flap.Methods: CDFI and acoustic Doppler ultrasound were compared in evaluating the number,location,diameter of perforator and main vascular traveling by single-blind trials,the data were compared with intraoperative anatomical finding.Results: In this study eight flaps were transplanted,24 perforating arteries were involved.Totally 22 MSAPs were found by preoperative CDFI,and 17 by acoustic Doppler ultrasound,2 and 6 perforators were misdiagnosed respectively,2 and 7 were missed respectively.There were significant statistical differences between these two methods(P0.05).The measurement of diameter by CDFI have no significant statistical difference with the finding in operation(P0.05),and 16 vascular bifurcation detected by CDFI was accordance with that found in intraoperative anatomy.Flap survived well with no significant postoperative complications in 8 cases.Conclusion: CDFI is very useful for preoperative planning of medial sural artery perforator flap and increase the reliability of the perforator flap.