A Suggestion to Use “Pedicle Reach” Instead of “Pedicle Length” for Communication in Free Flap Surgery
Steven Liben Zhang, Fu-Chan Wei · 2026
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Description
Steven Liben Zhang and Fu-Chan Wei argue that flap surgeons should talk about pedicle reach rather than pedicle length in a 2026 paper. Free flap surgery moves tissue on a stalk of vessels to rebuild defects elsewhere. The two terms sound alike but mean different things, and mixing them up causes real operating-room errors.
No standard definition of pedicle length exists in the literature, the authors note, and confusion can force vessel changes, vein grafts, or even flap abandonment. Reach instead bundles the whole geometry: where the stalk is divided, its caliber and branches, the recipient vessels' state, and how the flap sits when inset. That fuller picture, they argue, prevents miscommunication better than one narrow number.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Steven Liben Zhang, Fu-Chan Wei |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 7 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |