Avoiding denervation of rectus abdominis in DIEP flap harvest II: An intraoperative assessment of the nerves to rectus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap aims to reduce donor-site morbidity by minimizing rectus muscle damage; however, damage to motor nerves during perforator dissection may denervate rectus muscle. Although cadaveric research has demonstrated that individual nerves do not arise from single spinal cord segments and are not distributed segmentally, the functional distribution of individual nerves remains unknown. Using intraoperative nerve stimulation, the current study describes the motor distribution of individual nerves supplying the rectus abdominis, providing a guide to nerve dissection during DIEP flap harvest. METHODS: Twenty rectus abdominis muscles i..