Subject: Several authors used musculocutaneous free flaps of serratus anterior. However, the localization and dimensions of its skin paddle are not clearly defined in the literature. Thus, we realized an anatomical study trying to prove the reality of this skin paddle and its localisation, before considering clinical applications.
Patient and methods: Twenty-six dissections on 13 fresh anatomical subjects were realized. The protocol consisted in catheterization the thoracic branch of the thoracodorsal artery to inject a mixture of iodized product and methylene blue. The results were obtained by direct measurement of the blue cutaneous area and by radiographic evaluation of the radiopaque area, compared to reproducible anatomical reference marks.
Results: Twenty-five dissections were interpretable with superposable results. The skin paddle was always located compared to the 5th, 6th and 7th ribs between the anterior axillary line and the mamelonnary line. The area of the skin paddle was 11,75 cm of length (10-14), 10,75 cm of width (9-12) and 125 cm(2) from surface (110-140). Then, we realized between January and December 2003 several clinical applications of this anatomical study. We report 12 cases of free flaps of serratus anterior with skin paddle for the monitoring of the flap (4 musculocutaneous, 5 osteo-musculo-cutaneous, 3 of fascia with skin paddle).
Conclusion: This study comes to the support from the anatomical observations from Salmon, the per-operational observations of several authors and our own clinical experiment. It certifies the autonomy of cutaneous vascularization by branches resulting from the surface fascia of the muscle. It specifies the localization and dimensions of the skin paddle of the serratus anterior flap in its muscular, osteo-muscular or fascial form, which still increases its versatility of use.