Pedicled Flaps for Soft Tissue Defects Around Elbow Joint: Systematic Review

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Plastic and burn Surgery, Faculty of Medicine for Boys, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/aimj.2025.448951

Abstract

Abstract
 
Background: The elbow is especially susceptible to high-energy damage because of its position and high movement. Elbow abnormalities occur from various etiologies, including infection, trauma, burn contracture release, or tumor removal.
Aim: To investigate all pedicled flaps for elbow coverage and evaluation of the outcomes with clinical application.
Materials and methods: This systematic review has been carried out on a total of 19 studies, including a total of 247 cases with soft tissue defects around the elbow undergoing coverage using pedicled flaps.
Results: A total of 13 reconstruction techniques were described. The most used FCFs were the medial and lateral arm and forearm. Flaps, in 44 (17.8%) patients. The most used MFs were the anconeus flaps, in 40 (16.2%) patients. The most used DPFs were latissimus dorsi flaps, in 55 (22.3%) patients. The least commonly used FCFs, MFs, and DPFs were adipofascial flaps, brachioradialis flaps, and rectus abdominis flaps.
Conclusion: Elbow flap reconstruction can be done with various approaches. Free Cash Flows represent the predominant reconstruction methodology. There were 13 reconstruction techniques; the most used FCFs were medial and lateral arm and forearm flaps, in 17.8% of patients. The most used MFs were the anconeus flaps, in 16.2% of patients. The most used DPFs were latissimus dorsi flaps, in 22.3% of patients.
 

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics