Since man ambulates in the erect posture the heel of the foot is continually and repeatedly exposed to pressure and friction motion. A variety of surgical methods such as the lateral clacaneal aerery skin flap, midplantar fasciocuta-neous island flap cross leg flap and other forms of iskand flaps have been introduced in the past for the purpose of heel reconstruction. Recently, with the development and wide application of microsurgery, several types of free
flaps have also been reported for reconstruction of heel defects.
Flap selection is a mutifarious process, involving consideration of such variables as the siz e and shape of the defect, donor area morbidity, simplicity of the procedure, as well as cosmetic and functional recovery . But ideally, the flap should be sensate in addition to hsving sufficient thickness and bulk.
We the authers treated 3 cases of a variety of heel injuries (one with soft tissue defect of
the heel, another with a calcaneal defect, and the 3rd case had calcaneal osteomyelitis with I a drainig sinus) by using the parascapular fasciocutaneous free flap.
We resent the surgical methods used and review the advantages and disadvant-ages of the I parascapular fasciocutaneous free flap. In addition, possible applications of the sensory para
scapular fasciocutaneous free flap are considered.
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