Evidence Hub

Arteriovenous Vascular Loop Using a Bifurcated Greater Saphenous Vein

Cavadas PC, Baklinska M, Almoguera-Martinez A

Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open, 2022

Abstract

High-energy lower limb trauma may result in complex defects with extensive vascular damage. Free flap reconstruction in these cases may require vein grafts to reach healthy proximal recipient vessels. Vascular loops are an increasingly popular technique in managing recipient vessels in reconstructive microsurgery, especially in the lower limb. The use of an entire omega segment of the greater saphenous vein had not been described before but offered two advantages: the caliber match for arterial repair was better using one of the limbs of the omega compared with the parent greater saphenous vein, and it allowed two venous anastomoses instead of one. A case report of a fully bifurcated segment of the greater saphenous vein as a vascular loop for microvascular reconstruction in the lower limb is presented. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no similar case has been reported previously.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free