Page 43 - Read Online

Page 8 of 11 Gimenez et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2022;9:28 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2021.129

Figure 6. A 7-year-old female three months after suffering a propeller injury to the ankle in a boating accident (A). Her tibial nerve and
Achilles tendon were divided, and she had a severely plantar-flexed foot with extreme sensitivity of the foot and ankle. An anterolateral
thigh flap was raised with a large portion of facia lata to reconstruct the Achilles tendon (B). The tibial nerve was repaired with a cable
sural nerve graft (C). Ankle extension (D) and flexion (E) at 14-month postoperatively. She had a return of good sensation to her plantar
foot and can now run without difficulty.

CONCLUSION
Lower extremity soft tissue defects in children pose many challenges for the reconstructive surgeon. In
addition to accounting for anatomical differences between children and adults, the surgeon must be mindful
of the patient’s condition’s impact on their psychosocial outcomes when developing the reconstructive plan.
Advances in formal multidisciplinary collaboration, wound care, and microsurgical free tissue transfer have
empowered care teams to profoundly improve reconstructive outcomes in this patient demographic.
Despite these strides, further investigation is needed to develop ironclad reconstructive algorithms to
optimize patient care across limb salvage centers.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Conceptual design of manuscript: Gimenez AR
Drafting of manuscript: Gimenez AR, Ferry AM
Critical review and editing of manuscript: Gimenez AR, Pederson WC

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
None.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.