Changing trends in the management of pelvic pressure ulcers: a 12-year review.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a preferential shift toward increased use of muscle flap coverage for surgically treated Stage IV pelvic pressure ulcers. Patients treated from 1979-1990 were studied since 1979. Muscle flap use increased from 57% to 100% of surgically treated cases. Over this same period the number of operations per ulcer declined from 1.9 to 1.1 and the time to complete healing dropped from 12.8 to 4.8 weeks. While other factors (including advances in supportive care) have also played a role, increasing use and familiarity with muscle flap has been largely responsible for these improvements.