Planning digital artery perforators using color Doppler ultrasonography: a preliminary report

Summary Digital artery perforator (DAP) flaps have been applied for the coverage of finger soft tissue defects. While an advantage of this method is that there is no scarification of the digital arteries, it is difficult to identify the location of the perforators during intraoperative elevation of the DAP flap. In this study, anatomically reliable locations of DAPs were confirmed using color Doppler ultrasonography in healthy volunteers. A successful case using an adiposal-only DAP flap for the coverage of a released digital nerve using preoperative DAP mapping with color Doppler ultrasonography is also described. A total of 40 digital arteries in 20 fingers of the right hands of five healthy volunteers (mean age: 32.2 years old) were evaluated. The DAPs were identified using color flow imaging based on the beat of the digital artery in the short axial view. In total, 133 perforators were detected, 76 (an average of 3.8 per finger) arising from the radial digital artery and 57 (an average of 2.9 per finger) arising from ulnar digital artery. Sixty-three perforators (an average of 3.2 per finger) in the middle phalanges and 70 (an average of 3.5 per finger) in the proximal phalanges were found. Overall, an average of 1.7 perforators from each digital artery was detected in the proximal or middle phalanges. Moreover, at least one DAP per phalanx was reliably confirmed using color Doppler ultrasonography. Preoperative knowledge of DAP mapping could make elevating the DAP flap easier and safer.