Abstract
Ischial pressure sores are often observed in paraplegic patients due to spinal cord injury and are of concern. Surgical treatment is one option, and several local flaps, including fasciocutaneous flaps and musculocutaneous flaps, may be used for wound closure. However, the recurrence of ischial pressure sores is more common than that of any other pressure sores even if local flaps have already been used. Therefore, free flaps may be the next method. Several free flaps have been reported for the treatment of pressure sores such as medial plantar flaps, sole foot flaps, medial gastrocnemius flaps and latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flaps. In our experience, the free latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap has sufficient volume to cover large focal defects after surgical debridement of pressure sores, and the thickness of the flap is appropriately durable. Here, we report two cases of successful closure of ischial pressure sores with a free latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap, and discuss the patient selection, surgery plan and advantages of this method.
