Introducing the sc-GAP Flap: A New Approach to Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction Table 5.1 Patient and Flap Characteristics. The mean operative time was 8.2 hours (range, 6.5 to 11 hours). All pa- tients stayed in the hospital for 5 days. The mean pedicle length was 7.9 cm (range, 5 to 10 cm) and the mean flap weight was 499 g (range, 360 to 640 g). Vessel size ranged from 1.8 to 3 mm; 9-0 or 10-0 Ethilon (Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, N.J.) was used for arterial anastomosis, and couplers were used for venous anastomosis. When two or more septal perforators were located, the branches were dissected until they joined in the septum and followed until they reached adequate pedicle length and caliber. There were no flap losses. One intraoperative complication occurred (9 percent) in which the venous anastomosis had to be performed a second time as a result of venous kinking. There was one take-back because of arterial occlusion (9 percent), in which the arterial and venous anastomoses had to be redone. There was also one axillary seroma (9 percent), one seroma at the gluteal donor site (9 percent), and one hematoma at the gluteal donor site (9 percent) that was aspirated in the clinic. Major and minor complica- tions are summarized in Table 5.2. 74
5. lay-out phd DEFINITIEF_digitaal2
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