Microvascular free-flap salvage of the diabetic foot: a 5-year experience.

This study reviews 21 microvascular free flaps to the diabetic foot in 19 patients over a 65-month period. All flaps were either to the plantar surface of the foot or to cover exposed Achilles tendon. Twenty of the flaps survived. The operations required a long, costly hospitalization with frequent recipient- and donor-site complications. All patients eventually ambulated on their flaps. Five patients came to proximal amputation from 6 to 37 months after surgery. Only one amputation was for flap breakdown.