Experimental evidence for involvement of prostaglandins in viability and acute skin flaps: effects on viability and mode of action.

Treatment with prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors alone or combined with exogenous PGE2 significantly (p less than 0.05) increased skin viability in acute island skin flaps. Increased cutaneous blood flow was observed 15 minutes after skin flap construction in rats injected with ibuprofen (5 mg/kg) intraarterially before surgery compared with that in control rats. It is hypothesized, therefore, that prostaglandins may influence skin viability and the microcirculatory level.