There is controversy about the morbidity and complications that the radial flap donor site has, and some authors suggest the use of other flaps.

We have studied the frequency of complications at the donor site in 20 cases.

Material and methods: The study sample includes all patients who underwent surgery with radial flap reconstruction between January 2006 and December 2010 ( n 20) in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Hospital Gregorio Marañón. We analyze the immediate and long-term complications. Of these 7 died and 3 patients had not been followed developmentally. Ten patients were interviewed with a follow-up between 6 months and five years evaluating the sensitivity epicritic, flexion and extension of the wrist and thumb opposition.

The flap design was always based on a negative Allen test, and was used as far as possible the non dominant forearm. The resulting skin defect was covered with a dermo-epidermal graft. The forearm was splinted for a period of 10 days.

Results: We observed 1 case of Mucor infection in the donor site, the patient died in the intensive care unit due to respiratory complications.

The remaining complications were minor, such as tendon exposure in two cases with a favorable outcome with conservative treatment.

The motor disturbances and sensitivity epicritic do not limit the quality of daily life.

Conclusions: The radial fasciocutaneous flap is a secure reconstructive due to its low complications, most of them compatible with everyday life.

Conflict of interest: None declared.