ABSTRACT
Introduction: Patients with complex foot injuries were often amputated until 1981 when reconstructive microsurgery began in Fortaleza. The greater anatomy and advanced surgical techniques knowledge made possible a master's work in 2001, proposing the latissimus dorsi free flap as a way to change this reality. In these 17 years, advances and new options in microsurgical flaps management have led the authors to question what are the most commonly used flaps nowadays.
Objective: To review in literature the microsurgical flaps currently used in foot repair and to present results of nine patients operated in 2017.
Methods: We selected eight cases with foot injury in a weight bearing region operated in a tertiary hospital in 2017, excluding those with lesions in other regions of foot and lower limb and it was carried out bibliographic research selecting 14 works on the subject in last 6 years in Capes Journal.
Results: In 14 articles selected, 356 patients underwent foot reconstruction by microsurgery and the anterolateral thigh part was the most used, accounting for 55.61% of flaps. The nine cases operated by the authors were reconstructed with this flap.
Discussion: Surgical flap choice should consider, among several factors, total surgical time, and ability to tolerate pressure while walking, donor site morbidity, possibility of wearing shoes and the need for secondary refinements. In literature and in the series observed in the study, anterolateral thigh flap proved to be versatile and with many advantages among the cited ones.
Conclusion: Calcaneal and foot tissues are difficult to recover because there is no substitute that is completely adequate, which ultimately requires constant training by the plastic surgeon to be prepared for increasingly complex reconstructions, and in these, microsurgical flaps are strong allies.
Keywords: Microsurgery; Foot deformities, Acquired; Surgery, plastic; Perforator flap; Wounds and injuries.