Reliable and Reproducible Murine Models for Commonly Used Abdominal Plastic Surgical Flaps

Abstract

Animal models have been used for many years in surgical research to develop different surgical techniques, improve understanding of anatomy and physiology and hone surgical skills. The benefit of such models has been particularly important in developing relatively young specialties like plastic surgery and many plastic surgical techniques are designed and studied in animals long before they are used in humans. We describe techniques for raising several reliable and reproducible abdominal flaps in rodents, including transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flaps in rats and mice, superficial inferior epigastric artery flaps in rats and perforator flaps in rats. The intention of this paper is to act as a point of reference for any microvascular or plastic surgeon who is planning to perform abdominal plastic surgical flap research or further microvascular skills.

The Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Fascia Flap in Rats

“…The flap demonstrated to have 100% success rates after elevation without flap failure or necrosis at the donor site. One major advantage is that the SIE vessels of the rat are approximately 0.5 mm in diameter, 30 which categorizes it as relatively large and makes them to be easily dissected under loupe magnification. By only including the lateral branch, necrosis at the donor site is prevented.…”

Comparing Various Surgical Delay Methods with Ischemic Preconditioning in the Rat TRAM Flap Model

“…Also, the TRAM flap model has been well described in different studies. 18,19 Group 1 (Control Group, n ¼ 8)…”

The influence of type of vascular pedicle occlusion on the viability of skin island flaps: a postoperative quantitative assessment of flap survival in an experimental model in rats

“…In our experience and similar as observed by other authors the pattern of skin necrosis rarely is represented by a line perpendicular to the long axis of the flap 5,12 . Thus, the necrosis evaluation can present some limitations once the area is not always Most of previous studies in flap survival following pedicle occlusion and neovascularization utilized the rabbit or rat models [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . However, some variation and conflicting results exists in the survival observed in epigastric flaps in the rat model [5][6][7]13 .…”

“…Thus, the critical point is the blood supply and the outcome can result in partial/total necrosis, and thereby resulting wound healing problems 1,2 . In skin flaps, an extended island exhibits an increasing gradient of ischemia and consequent regional tissue necrosis toward their distal margins 3,4 .…”

“…In fact, this aspect may occur for a variety of reasons including insufficiency of blood supply secondary to mechanical obstruction of the pedicle (artery, vein or both), or ischemia-reperfusion injury, which occurs when blood flow is re-established to ischemic tissues 4 . Since complications related to flap transfer occur at a significant incidence, accurate assessment of flap status and the ability to determine whether or not it will survive is crucial 1,2 .…”