OBJECTIVE: To provide a new reconstructive method to treat refractory ulcers on the sole of the forefoot. METHODS: The reversed medial plantar flap with the medial plantar pedal artery and vein as pedicle was used to treat the refractory ulcers on the sole of the forefoot in 5 cases. The size of the flap was 3.5-5.0 cm x 4.0-5.5 cm. The deformities were corrected at the same time and the flaps were protected after operation. RESULTS: All flaps survived without complications. There was no recurrence after 6-month following-up. The patients could walk. CONCLUSION: The distal ends of medial plantar pedal artery and vein have plenty anastomoses with dorsal pedal artery and deep plantar arch. The reversed medial plantar flap has reliable blood supply by these anastomoses. The reversed medial plantar flap should be a choice in treating refractory ulcers on the sole of the forefoot.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of repairing or reconstructing defects of the forefoot. MethodsBetween February 2006 and February 2013, 57 patients with defects of the forefoot were treated. There were 41 males and 16 females with an average age of 38.9 years (range, 19-68 years). The disease causes included motor vehicles crush injury in 28 cases, crashing injury in 17 cases, and machine extrusion injury in 12 cases. The left side was involved in 25 cases and the right side in 32 cases, with a mean disease duration of 4.7 hours (range, 0.5-75.0 hours). Defect located at the 1st metatarsus in 9 cases, at the 5th metatarsus in 8 cases, at the 1st and the 2nd metatarsus in 16 cases, at the 4th and 5th metatarsus in 11 cases, at multiple metatarsus and the forefoot in 13 cases. The bone defect ranged from 2.5 cm×1.9 cm×1.4 cm to 13.3 cm×11.2 cm×2.7 cm. The soft tissue defect ranged from 12.4 cm×6.3 cm to 27.2 cm×18.7 cm. The iliac bone or vascularized iliac bone or vascularized fibula bone was used to rebuild the arch of the foot, and free flap was used to repair defects of the forefoot. The donor site was sutured directly or covered with skin graft. ResultsVenous crisis and partial necrosis occurred in 3 and 2 flaps respectively, which healed after symptomatic treatment. The other flaps and grafted skins survived, and wounds healed primarily. Fifty-one cases were followed up 1.5-2.5 years (mean, 2.1 years). The appearance was excellent and the feeling of the flap recovered at different levels. The two-point discrimination was 8.4-19.8 mm (mean, 13.7 mm) at 1.5 years after operation. According to upper extremity functional evaluation standard by hand surgery branch of Chinese Medical Association, sensation recovered to S2 in 6 cases, to S3 in 18 cases, and to S4 in 27 cases. The patients began to walk with weight loading at 2-6 months after operation (mean, 3.9 months). The bone healing time was 3-6 months (mean, 4.2 months). Based on American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) standards, the results were excellent in 19 cases, good in 24 cases, fair in 7 case, and poor in 1 case, and the excellent and good rate was 84.3%. ConclusionIt is a good solution to treat defects of the forefoot to use iliac bone or vascularized iliac bone or vascularized fibula bone for rebuilding the arch of the foot and use free flap for repairing defect.
Objective To investigate the operative procedure and the cl inical results of reverse lateral tarsal artery flap in treating forefoot skin and soft tissue defect. Methods From August 2007 to April 2009, 11 patients with forefoot skin and soft tissue defect were treated with reverse lateral tarsal artery flaps, including 7 males and 4 females aged from 16 to 60 years(36 years on average). Of 11 cases, defects were caused by crash in 5 cases, by grind contusion in 3 cases and the course disease was 4-12 hours; by tumor extended resection in 3 cases and the disease course was 3-12 months. There were 5 wounds on the dorsum of first metatarsophalangeal joint, 2 on the dorsum of the first toes, and 4 on the dorsum of distal part of metatarsal bones. The area of defect ranged from 4 cm × 2 cm to 6 cm × 5 cm. There were 6 cases of tendon exposure, 4 cases of tendon defect with bone exposure, and 1 case of tendon defect with open dislocation of metatarsophalangeal joint. The flap was designed with dorsal artery of foot as its pedicle. The plantar perforating branch was designed as its rotating point. And the flaps were transferred retrogradely to repair the forefoot wounds. The flap area ranged from 4.5 cm × 2.5 cm to 6.5 cm × 4.5 cm. The lateral dorsal nerve of foot was anastomosed with the nerve in wound area in 7 cases. Donor site was covered by full thickness skin graft. Results Partial necrosis occurred and was cured by dressing change, followed by skin graft in 2 cases. The flaps survived and primary heal ing was achieved in the other 9 cases. All the skin grafts of donor site survived and primary heal ing wasachieved after operation. All the patients were followed up for 6 months to 2 years, averaged 13 months. The texture and color of the flap were similar to skin at the recipient site. All patients returned to normal in walking and running and no ulceration occurred. The two point discrimination was 5-12 mm 6 months after operation in 7 patients who received nerve anastomosis, while only protective sensation recovered partly in the other 4 patients whose cutaneous nerve were not anastomosed. Conclusion Reverse lateral tarsal artery flap has the perfect shape and its blood vessel is constant. The blood pedicle is thick and long enough when transferred retrogradely. The flap is a good choice in the treatment of forefoot skin and soft tissue defect.
Objective To compare the difference in forefoot width between minimally invasive extra-articular osteotomy via small incision and traditional Chevron osteotomy in the treatment of hallux valgus. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 45 patients with hallux valgus between April 2019 and July 2022. Among them, 22 cases underwent minimally invasive extra-articular osteotomy via small incision (minimally invasive group), and 23 cases underwent traditional Chevron osteotomy (traditional group). There was no significant difference in the baseline data between the two groups (P>0.05), including gender, age, affected side, Mann classification of hallux valgus, disease duration, and preoperative intermetatarsal angle (IMA), hallux valgus angle (HVA), distal metatarsal articular angle (DMAA), bony forefoot width, soft tissue forefoot width, osteophyte width, and American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score. The osteotomy healing time and the occurrence of complications in the two groups were recorded. The differences between pre- and post-operation (changes) in various imaging indicators and AOFAS scores in the two groups were calculated. And the bony forefoot width and soft tissue forefoot width at 1, 6, and 12 months after operation were also recorded and compared between the two groups. Results One case of skin injury occurred during operation in the minimally invasive group, while 3 cases of poor wound healing occurred after operation in the traditional group. None of the patients experienced infections, nerve injuries, or other complications. All patients were followed up 12-31 months (mean, 22.5 months). The osteotomy healed in the two groups and no significant difference in healing time between the two groups was found (P>0.05). The IMA, HVA, DMAA, osteophyte width, and AOFAS score at 12 months after operation significantly improved compared to those before operation (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the changes of IMA, HVA, and osteophyte width (P>0.05). However, the differences in the changes of AOFAS score and DMAA were significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in bony and soft tissue forefoot widths at different time points after operation (P>0.05). However, there were significant differences in the two groups between the pre- and post-operation (P<0.05). Conclusion The minimally invasive extra-articular osteotomy via small incision for hallux valgus, despite not removing the medial osteophyte of the first metatarsal, can still effectively improve the forefoot width and osteophyte width. While correcting the IMA and HVA, it can more effectively restore the DMAA, resulting in better AOFAS scores.
The skin and soft tissue defects or ulceration of the wight-bearing part of the sole was difficult to repair with medial plantar island flap, but would be treated with retrograde island flap carrying plantar metatarsal arteries as pedicle. Ten flaps were applied in 9 patients. They had either indolent ulcer or skin defect secondary to excision of painful corn or callosities of the front part of the sole. The flaps were 3 cm to 5 cm long and 3 cm to 4 cm wide, and they all survived following retrograde transfer. The patients were followed up for 1 to 10 years. It was found that the patients could bear weight on the operated foot and could walk without pain or lameness. The flaps were resistant to abrasion from long-time walking. It was concluded that this kind of flap was best suitable to repair the ulcers and defects over the front part of the sole despite there were some minor shortcomings such as the size of the flaps available was small and the donor site required split skin graft for coverage.