[Ischemic preconditioning in a rat adipocutaneous flap model].

Abstract

Flap necrosis in ear, nose, and throat surgery, especially in high-risk groups, is not rare, but not all of the individual pathophysiological processes are known. The objective of this study was to establish an animal model to determine whether acute ischemic preconditioning, which has been reported to be successful in organ transplantation, will result in enhanced flap survival.
Forty-two Wistar rats were divided into three experimental groups. An epigastric adipocutaneous flap, based on both superficial epigastric arteries and veins, was raised. The flap was either raised (control), clamped for 2 h (ischemic), or subjected to ischemia of 30 min, followed by 30 min of reperfusion and another 2 h of induced ischemia (IP). The mean flap necrosis area was assessed in all groups on the 5th postoperative day.
All animals were doing well on the final day. The average necrosis in the ischemic group was significantly greater than in the control group. No significant superiority in the IP group was demonstrated.
The data show that the experimental animal model is practicable and that additional approaches to ischemic preconditioning should be verified.