Comparison between Medial Plantar and Reverse Sural Artery Flap in Reconstruction of Posterior Heel Defects: A Single Institutional Study

The reconstruction of soft tissue defects of the posterior heel involving weight-bearing area presents a challenging problems for plastic surgeons. Soft tissues defects, whether from recent trauma or from chronic lesions are difficult to cover and require a well vascularised reconstruction having a good durability and sensation because of its location and repeated friction by footwear. We have done heel reconstruction of 10 patients with the Medial Plantar flap and 10 patients with Reverse Sural artery flap. Results were very much encouraging in terms of flap survival, durability of coverage and functional outcome. All the 10 cases of Medial Plantar flap survived without any flap loss. Among the Reverse Sural Artery flap group two flaps was lost due to vascular insufficiency/kinking in a diabetic patient. In this study we report our clinical experience that Medial Plantar flap is a better reconstructive option for the weight-bearing heel defects than reverse sural artery flap in terms of functional outcome.