The myocutaneous flap: a versatile approach to major reconstructive problems.

Our experience with 50 myocutaneous flaps shows that the remarkable flexibility in design and execution of these flaps has opened up a new frontier in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The complication rate was 20 percent. Only one complication, partial flap necrosis, caused serious compromise of the reconstruction. Not only could the flaps be transposed in any direction locally, but they could be transferred to distant sites with microvascular anastomoses, and muscle function could be restored by incorporating nerve repairs into the reconstruction. Myocutaneous flaps permit us now to solve reconstructive problems that were heretofore unsolvable.