A pleural tumor, lung tumor, or a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis that does not develop well with conventional treatment can leave an infection in the chest area that ends in a hole. Few people have heard of it, but it exists. There are patients living with an open area of the body.with all the resulting inconveniences or poor quality of life.
The three who have now been discovered in Son Espace have been offered successful solution which involves a technique that, although not new, is very complex and is being used for the first time in these cases of structural and chest wall reconstruction.
How it’s done? “Technically This is a free flap and it is an autograft of skin and muscle taken from another part of the body, such as the abdomen or thigh,” explains Jaume Estrada, head of the plastic surgery service at the reference hospital. “The meat is moved and placed on the chest, but it needs to be done for it to be viable. vascular joints this piece with an artery and a vein, usually from the armpit,” adds the expert. If the lengthening was not enough, “a kind of bypass with veins from the thigh is added, thus lengthening it by fusion.”
The intervention consists of fill the open cavity with an extract from another part of the body and “cover it together with the fistula,” in which case “the superficial part of the skin remaining outside remains covering the hole, as if it were a patch.” Dr. Estrada explains that, fortunately, These cases are “very rare”However, in practiced cases the success was 100%.
Dangers
Does this carry risks? “If coagulation occurs, everything will be lost. and this cannot be corrected,” explains the specialist, who, on the contrary, remembers that he has been practicing this type of technique since 1989.
“It’s about applying vascular microsurgery to solve such problems. In this particular case, a free or microsurgical flap consists of taking a part of the body (the front of the thigh is one of the most commonly used) to cover the side, the tibia, or create a new breast,” describes Dr. Jaume Estrada.
Anyway, tissues and muscles must be taken from oneself, “he is not an organ or animal donor; “For complex reconstructive operations, it is necessary to use your own flaps,” the specialist clarifies.
