Abstract
The skin and subcutaneous tissue of the hand are thin, and bones, tendons and neurovascular bundles are present beneath the skin. Skin coverage is necessary for reconstruction when treating soft tissue defects of the hand, but scar formation leads to functional impairment. To minimize scar formation, it is important to use well-vascularized and thin skin flaps for hand reconstruction. The anterolateral thigh flap (ALT flap), one of the perforator flaps, has been promoted for use in certain surgeries due to favorable features, such as its large and thin skin paddle, long pedicle length and minimal donor site morbidity, and despite its disadvantageous anatomical vascular variation. We would like to present our results of soft tissue reconstruction of the hand using the ALT flap. Flap thickness can be adjusted to match defect site requirements by using the thinning technique. Because the surgical fields are the hand and thigh, surgeries can be performed simultaneously using a two team-approach, without repositioning the patient, which reduces the total time required. Thus, the ALT flap is a particularly useful source for the reconstruction of soft tissue defects in the hand.
