Modified free pectoral skin flaps in rats.

Various types of murine free flaps have been developed for microsurgical training and research. We present a new modification of the free pectoral skin flap in Sprague-Dawley rats. Twelve free pectoral skin flaps were raised according to the standard protocol except that we deviated from it by transecting the common thoracic vessels at the origin of the axillary vessels and anastomosing them end-to-side to the femoral vessels in the groin. This reduced operating time and complications as well as postoperative morbidity and mortality. Overall, it simplified the procedure considerably and therefore made the model more attractive to beginners in microvascular surgery.