Abstract
Skin defects of the anterior central region of the lower leg accompanied by bone and foreign body exposure may be difficult to repair due to a lack of soft tissue. Since Ger reconstructed lower limb ulcer with the soleus and medial gastrocnemius muscles in 1966, reconstructions with muscle flaps have been frequently reported.
We encountered 3 patients for whom reconstruction with soleus, medial gastrocnemius, and inferiorly based gastrocnemius muscle flaps was applied to skin defects of the lower leg. Although each muscle flap has advantages and disadvantages, the flaps were useful. The conventional gastrocnemius muscle flap was previously not suitable for tissue defects in the central region of the lower leg, but the inferiorly based gastrocnemius muscle flap could be applied because of the presence of its pedicle on the distal side. This may be a useful muscle flap applicable for many cases because the surgical technique is simple and the operative time is short due to the absence of complicated dissection in the procedure, unlike the preparation procedure of a soleus muscle flap.
