MUSCLE AND

MUSCULOCUTANEOUS
FREE FLAPS
Muscle and musculocutaneous free flaps are useful in two
ways. They have been widely applied for coverage of softtissue
defects in the upper and lower extremities and in the
reconstruction of contour in soft-tissue defects in the head,
neck, and trunk. Their second major area of usefulness is in
the transfer of functioning neuromuscular units to replace
paralyzed muscular units in the face and extremities. Muscle
flaps tend to atrophy with time, diminishing in bulk, and
donor site functional deficits usually are insignificant. Unless
restoration of local sensibility is required, a muscle flap usually
is preferable to a cutaneous flap for free tissue transfer.

Campbell textbook.