SynthesisMicrosurgery2026
Recipient Vessel Selection in Free Flap Phalloplasty: A Systematic Review and Single-Arm Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Microsurgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSelection of recipient vessels in phalloplasty is challenging due to the absence of adequate vessels in the immediate proximity. There is no consensus on the appropriate vessel selection. We hypothesized that recipient vessel selection in phalloplasty is associated with differences in complications and flap survival.
methodsA literature search following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines across Ovid MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL databases identified 46 articles. Collected data included demographics, surgical details, donor and recipient vessels, use of interpositional grafts, number of venous anastomoses, and outcomes. Statistical analysis followed the random-effects model.
resultsOne thousand nine hundred and seventy six phalloplasty cases were identified. The deep inferior epigastric artery (DIEA) was used in 1413 cases (71.5%) and the femoral artery (FA) was used in 563 cases (28.5%). Pooled proportions of arterial and venous thrombosis were 2.0% and 2.2%, respectively. The use of an interpositional vein graft or arteriovenous loop with the FA was associated with a significantly higher arterial thrombosis rate (16.0%) compared to direct anastomosis to the FA (0.1%, p < 0.001) and to the DIEA (1.2%, p < 0.001). In the absence of vascular thrombosis, partial flap necrosis occurred significantly less often with direct anastomosis to the FA (0.6%) than with the DIEA (6.2%, p = 0.016).
conclusionsThe choice of recipient vessels is an important consideration in phalloplasty flap survival. The DIEA is associated with a low thrombosis rate. However, the significantly higher proportion of thrombosis observed with the FA may be attributable to the use of an interpositional vein graft or arteriovenous loop. Despite lower thrombosis rates, the use of the DIEA was associated with a higher proportion of partial flap necrosis when vessels were patent.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.