The Versatile Latissimus Dorsi Muscle as a Local Flap for Chest Wall Coverage
Geoffrey G. Hallock, MD1; Yoko Young Sang, MD2
1Sacred Heart Campus, St. Luke’s Hospital
2Louisiana State University Shreveport
Occasionally, the treatment of breast cancer requires the removal of the breast while also leaving a large chest skin deficit. Especially if radiation has been done or is planned, the best way to restore the missing skin to preserve its essential function would be by the use of a vascularized flap. Sometimes this can be achieved while simultaneously providing a reconstruction of a very aesthetic breast mound. Depending on circumstances and the extent of disease, a simpler solution might be to just close only the chest wound that has been created.
A “workhorse” flap alternative that is almost always available to achieve this is the latissimus dorsi (LD) muscle from the back, as this can be moved to almost all regions of the chest. The LD muscle usually can be swung to the chest about its blood vessels that remain attached to the armpit, and so would be called a local flap that as such avoids the complexities of a transfer requiring microsurgery to reconnect the blood supply. The long-term experience by reconstructive surgeons in using the LD muscle as a local flap, not just for the chest but also the back, head, and neck, has proven its deserved accolade to be a versatile flap unparalleled by most other donor sites.