The use of a tissue expander to enlarge a graft for surgical treatment of a pressure ulcer in a quadriplegic. Case report.

This case reports the use of a tissue expander to facilitate the surgical closure of a decubitus ulcer in a spinal cord injured quadriplegic. The patient is a 42-year-old man with chronic nonhealing of a right ischial pressure ulcer. It had required a flap rotation and partial ischiectomy in the remote past that had been problem-free for many years. The patient subsequently required the placement of a new flap, but insufficient tissue was available to close the wound with the hip in 90 degrees of flexion. Closing the wound with the hip in extension merely led to breakdown when the hip was put in the 90 degrees of flexion required for the sitting position. The problem was solved by using a tissue expander to increase the available soft tissue. A tissue expander was inserted and gradually expanded over a period of weeks by injecting it with fluid. It was then removed, and the expanded tissue that had grown over it allowed closure of the wound without tension on the tissues with the hip in flexion. The patient subsequently returned to the sitting position and his work as a computer programmer. Tissue expanders are commonly used in breast reconstruction, but have found many other uses in plastic surgery over the last decade. It is felt that tissue expansion techniques should not be the primary surgery treatment of decubitus ulcers, but can be used in difficult cases like this one to provide additional tissue.