Chronic thrombosis in the descending genicular artery during harvest of a medial femoral condyle corticocancellous flap: a case report

Excerpt

Since its original description [10], the vascularized medial femoral condyle (MFC) corticoperiosteal free flap has gained increased popularity due to its versatility and reliability. While the flap was initially proposed for small bone nonunions [5], its favorable characteristics and osteogenic potential have led to its application in long bone nonunions [4]. The advantages of this flap include minimal donor side morbidity, a long noncritical vascular pedicle, and relatively reliable anatomy [7]. To date, there have been few disadvantages or complications of this flap reported in the literature. Those cited include persistent nonunion, seroma formation, knee pain, flap failure, and femur fracture [1, 3]. We present the case of a chronic arterial thrombosis in the descending genicular artery (DGA) identified during the harvest of a MFC corticocancellous flap for a humeral nonunion. …