Free Gracilis Muscle Flap for Sarcoma Reconstruction: 19 Years of Clinical Experience

Table 3

Complications of 22 patients receiving 23 gracilis flaps for sarcoma reconstruction, 1998 to 2017.

Patient no.	No. of complications (type)
	Major	Minor	Sarcoma recurrence^†
1	0	2 (partial skin-graft loss, partial flap necrosis)
2	0	1 (superficial infection)	1
3	3 (infection, unplanned operation (incision and drainage), flap loss)	0
5	0	1 (partial skin-graft loss)	1
6	2 (unplanned operation (attempted salvage), flap loss)	0
8	0	1 (planned reoperation (recipient scar revision))
9	1 (unplanned operation (hematoma evacuation))	2 (superficial infection, partial flap necrosis)
10	0	1 (planned reoperation (recipient scar revision))	1
12	0	2 (superficial infection, partial skin-graft loss)
15	1 (unplanned operation (successful salvage))	0
16	0	1 (partial flap necrosis)
17	0	1 (superficial infection)
18	0	1 (planned reoperation (donor scar revision))
19	2 (infection, amputation)	0
20	0	2 (fluid collection, partial skin-graft loss)
21	1 (amputation)	1 (planned reoperation (amputation for cancer recurrence))
Total events	8	16	3
Patients (%)	6 (27)	12 (55)	3 (14)

IV, intravenous. Six patients had no complications and are not listed in table. ^†There were no cases of recurrence at the site of gracilis flap harvest (mean follow-up, 53 months (range 9–156 months)).