Clinical application and update on anatomical study of descending genicular artery perforator flap

As the descending genicular artery supplies multiple perforating branches around the knee joint, it can be used in corticocancellous, osteomusculocutaneous and other composite tissue flaps to repair composite tissue defects at one stage. Consequently it plays a very important role in the field of reconstruction surgery. At present, however, there has been no systematic review of its clinical applications. Having reviewed all the recent reports available on the free tissue perforator flaps with descending genicular artery, we classified them into five major forms. In this paper, we comment on their anatomical mechanisms, variations and clinical applications. Additionally, we predict that digital technology will be used in the future clinical application of the perforator tissue flaps with descending genicular artery. Key words: Surgical flaps; Transplantation; Anatomy