Purpose:
An anterolateral(ALT) free flap used for reconstruction is common nowadays. Despite being highly effective, failure of the flap still inevitably and can lead to a significant impact to the patient. The implantable doppler(IDP) is used for postoperative flap monitors and as an adjuvant in early detection of vessel thrombosis. There is a lack of data regarding the salvage of the implantable doppler in Taiwan. The aim of our study was to determine the salvage rates of the flap after IDP use at E-Da Hospital.

Methods:
The study used electronic data of patient’s history from E-da Hospital. The data from ALT flaps were used to examine the association between its failure rate without IDP use versus the salvage rate from IDP.
Inclusion criteria
Patients who were admitted to the Plastic Surgery Department and underwent ALT flap were collected from 2014 to 2021. For IDP use, our data started from 1 February 2022.
Exclusion criteria
Any admissions under other Surgical Departments were not included in the study. Free flap that is not ALT flap.

Results:
From 2014 to 2021, we collected 324 ALT flaps. 9 cases were identified as unsuccessful. The success rate of flap was 97.2%. Despite the fact, 9 failures are found to be a patient factor itself like fragile vessels or inappropriate post-operative management like flap compression by trachea securing belt. For IDP cases, we collected 20 cases and the result was remarkable.

Conclusion:
Some studies concluded that IDP can help in increasing the salvage rate. In our institution, we are starting to use the IDP and the results show encouraging. We noticed that the use of IDP for postoperative flap monitors not only can ease daily nursing care, but also can increase patient’s postoperative activity and thus decrease the rate of infection.

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