Changes in Blood Flow in the Partially Elevated Epigastric Pedicled Flap in Response to Occlusion of the Femoral Artery in Rats

ABSTRACT In this study, the authors used a custom-designed clamping method and laser Doppler flowmetry to investigate the short-term autoregulatory patterns of blood flow (BF) in partially elevated pedicled epigastric flaps in rats (n=11). The femoral artery was clamped for 30, 60, 120 and 180 sec directly after flap elevation and 40 to 80 min after flap elevation. Changes during and after clamping indicate the functioning of autoregulatory factors in the vessels of the epigastric partially elevated flap. The longer the clamp ischemia is in a flap, the greater (P < 0.0001) is the need for a compensatory increase in BF and for a longer time (P < 0.0001) in the flap after clamp release. They compared the responses of BF directly after flap elevation with those 40 to 80 min after flap elevation. The results suggest a significant increase in the autoregulatory capacity of the pedicled partially elevated flap in measurements performed 40 to 80 min after flap elevation (P = 0.043). They conclude that the novel clamping method seems to be reliable when studying the short-term autoregulatory patterns of the epigastric partially elevated pedicled flap.