EVALUATION OF TESTS FOR PREDICTING THE VIABILITY OF AXIAL PATTERN SKIN FLAPS IN THE PIG

The viability of axial pattern skin flaps in pigs was assessed by the use ofintravenous fluo-rescein, intradennal injection of 133Xe in saline, intravenous 51Cr tagged red cells, and angiog-raphy. The results were correlated with flapsurvival at 4 days postoperatively. Intravenous fluorescein provided the most accuratemethod for prediction of viable tissue at the time of operation. There was no evidence of vascular perfusion in the distal portions of these flaps.These axial pattern flaps differed in their via-bility from similar flaps in humans, andanasto-moses between discrete vascular territories were infrequent in pigskin. © 1979 American Society of Plastic Surgeons.