Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of gastrocnemius muscle flap combining vacuum sealing drainage （VSD） in the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis with soft tissue defect in tibia. Methods From Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2013, a total of 20 patients with chronic tibia osteomyelitis with soft tissue defect were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into 2 groups, 8 cases were treated with traditional methods （control group） and other 12 cases were treated with gastrocnemius muscle flap combining VSD （experimental group）. Changing rate of CRP 72 hours post-operative, one-time cure rate, healing time and recurrence rate were assessed. Results All the indexes in experimental group were better than in control group （P＆lt;0.05）. Comparing with control group, the changing rate of CRP 72 hours post-operatively and one-time cure rate in experimental group were higher, while the healing time was lower. The recurrence rate of experimental group was 0%. Conclusion Gastrocnemius muscle flap combining with VSD is effective in treating chronic osteomyelitis with soft tissue defect in tibia with stable curative effect, quick recovery and low recurrence rate, and is worthy of promotion.

Key words: Gastrocnemius muscle flap, Vacuum sealing drainage, Chronic tibia osteomyelitis, Soft tissue defect