Free flap

A piece of living tissue — skin, muscle, bone, or any combination — deliberately disconnected from one part of the body and reattached at another, with its own artery and vein joined under the microscope to vessels at the recipient site. The defining feature is microvascular anastomosis.

Related terms

• Procedure

  Microvascular anastomosis

  Joining of small blood vessels (typically less than 3 mm) under an operating microscope using sutures finer than a human hair.

• Anatomy

  Vascular pedicle

  The artery, vein, and surrounding tissue that supply blood to a flap. The reliable size and position of a flap depend on the anatomy of its pedicle.

• Anatomy

  Perforator

  A small blood vessel that pierces the deep fascia to supply the skin and subcutaneous tissue from a deeper source artery. Classified by route — direct (straight from a main trunk through fascia), septal (through intermuscular septa), or musculocutaneous (through a muscle before reaching skin). Clinically usable perforators measure 0.5-1.5 mm.

• Procedure

  Perforator flap

  A flap raised on a small vessel that pierces the deep fascia to supply the skin, leaving the underlying muscle intact. Conceptualised by Koshima and Soeda in 1989.

Articles mentioning this term

1. Expert blog · 9 May 2026

   Wolne płaty

   Konceptualny przegląd chirurgii wolnego płata — czym jest, skąd pochodzi, płaty robocze, wyniki i kierunki rozwoju.

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