A rotation flap is a semicircular
skin flap that is rotated into the defect on a
fulcrum point. Rotation flaps provide the ability to mobilize large areas of tissue with a wide vascular base for reconstruction. The flap must be adequately large, and a large base is necessary if a back-cut will be needed to lengthen the flap. If the flap is too small, the residual defect can be covered by mobilizing the surrounding tissue.
A drawback of rotation flaps is the extended cutting and undermining needed to create the flap, thus increasing the risk of
hemorrhage
Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, v ...
and
nerve damage
Nerve injury is an injury to nervous tissue. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injuries. In 1941, Seddon introduced a classification of nerve injuries based on three main types of nerve f ...
.
This term is often used in contrast with the term "
free flap" where the transferred tissue is completely detached.
References
*
See also
*
Flap (surgery)
Flap surgery is a technique in plastic and reconstructive surgery where any type of tissue is lifted from a donor site and moved to a recipient site with an intact blood supply. This is distinct from a graft, which does not have an intact blood ...
*
Free flap
*
Perforator flaps
*
List of plastic surgery flaps
External links
Rotation flap @ eMedicineImages on rotation flap
{{Surgery-stub
Plastic surgery