Fig. 4

A 33-year-old man with chronic osteomyelitis of the left tibia. a Radiograph shows bone defect following resection of dead bone. b Soft tissue defect following debridement. c Planning on the harvest of free latissimus dorsi flap. d The latissimus dorsi flap is harvested. e The donor site is sutured directly drainage tubes. f The bone flap is separated from the posterior half of tibia, and one tip of the flap is sewed up with the wound edge. g The latissimus dorsi flap completely covers the soft tissue defect, the external fixator is assembled, and two half pins are used to fix the bone flap. h Immediate postoperative lateral radiograph shows distraction gap and bone flap