The Report for Atypical Vascular Variations in the Latissimus Dorsi Myocutaneous Flaps

광배근 피판의 비전형적인 혈관 해부학적 증례에 대한 보고

It has been known that latissimus dorsi(LD) myocutaneous flap based on thoracodorsal artery is one of most useful method for microreconstructive surgery and the thoracodorsal artery of this flap has constant vascular anatomy. The retrospective study for anatomy of the thoracodorsal arterial system was performed at operative cases. The aim of this study was to document the anatomical variation of this pedicle clinically. 167 LD flaps were carried out from 1983 to 2002 in our clinic. We found unusual 7(4.2%) cases compared to standard textbooks of anatomy. One case was no vascular supply to LD muscle. In 2(1.2%) cases thoracodorsal artery was a typical branch of the subscapular artery but didn't branch to LD muscle, passed to lower serratus anterior muscle, and at this point, supplied vessel to LD muscle and it's vascular diameter was about 1mm diameter. The thoracodorsal artery arose from the axillary artery in 1.8% of cases(3 cases). One case had less than 1mm vascular diameter but a branch of subscapluar artery. It should be emphasized that we must elevate the latissimus dorsi flap after accurate cognition for the anatomy of thoracodorsal artery because the thoracodorsal arterial system is almost reliable but not uniform in rare cases.