Abstract Ischemia, or inadequate blood supply, is a major cause of failure in skin flaps. These results suggest that injection of plasmids expressing angiogenic growth factors might be able to reduce ischemic death of random skin flaps in patients. Background Current estimates indicate that over 2,000,000 US citizens have chronic wounds each year, and the problem is increasing as the population ages. The cost of caring for chronic wounds reaches into the billions of dollars a year. Clearly, there is a need for better therapies to promote healing of chronic wounds.
Ischemia is a major factor contributing to the failure of most chronic wounds to heal.
These factors only function normally when oxygen perfusion of wound tissue is adequate. Also, extended periods of pressure can cause ischemia in tissue pressure points in persons without nerve function who have lost nerve functions but are otherwise healthy such as quadriplegics or paraplegics. Thus, methods to restore adequate blood perfusion and reverse local tissue ischemia would promote healing of many chronic wounds. A single pedicle skin flap measuring 11.5 cm x 2.5 cm will be raised at the inferior angle of the scapula extending distally to the level of the ischial tuberosity. The ischemic arm of the experiment consisted of 3 rats subjected to the single pedicle flap surgery.