Free arterialised venous forearm flaps for limb reconstruction.

Arterialised venous flaps are an alternative method to conventional flaps. Arterialised venous flaps include only the venous network and afferent blood comes from the arterial system. Arterialised venous flaps have been mostly used for closure of small defects. We have designed an arterialised venous flap utilising the venous network of the forearm and applied this flap in 5 patients with various defects in the extremities ranging in size from 6 x 8 cm to 10 x 12 cm. Four flaps totally survived. One flap had 30% partial necrosis. Overall clinical results were successful. The free arterialised venous forearm flap provides large, thin, good quality tissue with less morbidity at the donor site without sacrificing one major artery of the hand and can be an alternative for the conventional radial forearm flap.