Patients and methods
This study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration after the approval of the local ethics committee. Fourteen patients (four female and ten male) who underwent surgical reconstruction of Achilles region defect between 2016 and 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. The mean age of patients was 39 years. If required, surgical debridement was performed prior to final reconstruction. The size of skin-soft tissue loss, length of the Achilles tendon defect, exposure of vital structures (bone, tendon, vessel, nerve, joint, or foreign material), sensation, motor function, and perfusion were evaluated and abnormal findings noted. Patients were operated under local or general anesthesia depending on operative needs. All interventions were performed by the same team. Details pertaining to patient demographics, etiology, size/content of the defect, reconstruction, and complications/reoperations are summarized in Table 1.