ArticleSpinal cord2025
Flap reconstruction of pressure ulcers in patients with spinal cord injury: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in Spinal cord, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Predictors of Complications and Recurrence After Pressure Injury Reconstruction in Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International wound journal · 2026Pooled it
- Pressure injury flap surgery in people with spinal cord injury/disorder: surgical and rehabilitation outcomes.Spinal cord · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designRetrospective case series.
objectivesTo describe our five-year experience of surgical excision and flap reconstruction of pressure ulcers in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).
settingTertiary spinal centre in Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom.
methodsAll spinal injury patients that underwent surgical reconstruction of pressure ulcers at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital National Spinal Injury Centre between 2018 and 2022 inclusive were included. Ulcers underwent 'pseudotumour' excision followed by either immediate or staged flap reconstruction. The primary outcome was complete healing at one year. Secondary outcomes included flap loss, complications, and return to theatre.
results52 cases were included across 44 patients. 43 cases (82.7%) underwent immediate debridement and reconstruction. The mean number of procedures was 1.9 (range 1-6). Local flaps were used in 22 (41.5%) cases. There was one (1.9%) free flap (anterolateral thigh), eight (15.4%) pedicled flaps, and 21 (39.6%) flaps based on single perforators. 49 cases completed follow-up; 41 (83.7%) were healed at one year after their initial surgery. Immediate reconstructions were 36.7% more likely to achieve healing at this time point than staged cases (P = .028, Fisher's exact). There was partial or total flap loss in 15 (28.8%) cases. Thirty-nine complications were seen in 24 (46.2%) cases. Twenty-three cases (44.2%) required returns to theatre.
conclusionsSurgical debridement with flap reconstruction is a safe and reliable treatment approach for pressure ulcers in those with SCI, with a complication rate comparable to existing literature. Immediate flap reconstruction and local flap designs may be associated with a lower risk of complications and higher healing rates.
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