Preoperative Vascular Planning of Free Flaps: Comparative Study of Computed Tomographic Angiography, Color Doppler Ultrasonography, and Hand-Held Doppler

Background: Preoperative planning of microsurgical perforator free flaps continues to be a discussion topic among microsurgeons. The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of three methods of preoperative vascular mapping-hand-held Doppler imaging, color Doppler ultrasonography, and computed tomographic angiography-to detect perforators and their concordance with surgical findings. Methods: A prospective study was performed to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of hand-held Doppler imaging, color Doppler ultrasonography, and computed tomographic angiography to detect free flap perforators. Each patient undergoing a free flap reconstruction was studied preoperatively with the three methods, and the results were compared to the intraoperative findings. Results: Fifty-three patients undergoing autologous tissue reconstruction were included. Most reconstructions (71.7 percent) were performed with anterolateral thigh flaps. The positive predictive value (color Doppler ultrasonography, 100 percent; computed tomographic angiography, 100 percent; hand-held Doppler imaging, 88.6 percent) and negative predictive value (color Doppler ultrasonography, 100 percent; computed tomographic angiography, 94.3 percent; hand-held Doppler imaging, 90.5 percent) rates were significantly different between methods. The high resolution of the color Doppler ultrasonography probe provided a direct vision of the vasculature arborization and efficiently detected vessels with diameters of less than 0.5 mm. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of color Doppler ultrasonography were greater than those of both computed tomographic angiography and hand-held Doppler imaging. There was 100 percent concordance between color Doppler ultrasonography perforators and the surgical findings. Conclusions: Color Doppler ultrasonography provides a reproducible, harmless, and accurate way to visualize vascular anatomy. It has a high correlation with the surgical findings, signifying advantages over hand-held Doppler and computed tomographic angiography in sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.