Role of Perivascular Areolar Tissue fir the Survival of Single-Ended Venous Flap : An Experimental Study on the Inferior Epigastric Venous Flap of the Rat

We performed this study to investigate the role of perivascular areolar tissue for the survival of single-ended venous flap using rat inferior epigastric pedicle. Five models of flap were studied ; Group A-flap based on an inferior epigastrie vien and areolar tissue ; Group B-flap with skeltonized vein ; Group C-flap based on an inferior epigastric artery and areolar tissue ; Grup D-flap with skeletonized artery ; Group E-flap based on perivascular areolar tissue alone. Each group included 40 flaps in 20 rats. Group A showed 25 totally survived flaps and 9 partially survived flaps, but other groups showed almost all necrotic flaps. Histological examination of the survived pedicle showed many small vascular channels around the inferior epigastric artery and vein. We belive that these vascular channels may play an important role for the survival of single-ended venous flap.