Transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap combined with vascularized costal cartilages in cranial reconstruction

Exposing the alloplastic materials after skull reconstruction is very difficult because of the risk of infection and the choice of reconstruction procedures. Conventional procedures were divided into two-step or multi-step surgery. To perform one-stage surgery, a transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap combined with vascularized costal cartilages has been used for head reconstruction after exposing the alloplastic materials in two patients. This is the first report using the flap for skull reconstruction. In this article, we describe the usefulness and the disadvantages of the transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap combined with vascularized costal cartilages.