Effectiveness of muscle coverage to manage osteomyelitis of very late onset in the irradiated chest wall.

Radiation therapy for breast cancer has improved survival rates; however, a consequence of this is treatment-induced complications in longer-living patients. Decades after chest wall irradiation, very late onset radiation-induced osteomyelitis can develop, caused by osteoradionecrosis. This may lead to the development of small, but very refractory, skin ulcers. Many reports recommend well-vascularized tissue coverage after appropriate debridement for irradiation ulcers; however, when the ulcers are of very late onset, this sometimes causes recurrence of ulceration in non-muscle-covered areas after flap transfer. Thus, for very late onset cases, we propose treatment with an absolute muscle flap to cover both the obviously infected focus and the surrounding irradiated area. A muscle flap consisting of the entire latissimus dorsi, the shape of which is very large in the horizontal direction, satisfies this requirement. Latissimus dorsi muscle coverage for the treatment of very late onset osteomyelitis should be reappraised.