TY - JOUR JF - Int-J-Radiat-Res JO - Int J Radiat Res VL - 20 IS - 3 PY - 2022 Y1 - 2022/7/01 TI - Effects of timing in the applications of radiotherapy after transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flap in rats TT - N2 - Background: The present study aimed to investigate flap status in relation to the timing of radiotherapy (RT) in an experimental rat model of irradiated transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap. Materials and Methods: Fifty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley experiments were separated in seven groups in terms of flap surgery and RT. The groups comprised sham group, control (Ctrl) group, RT group, and RT plus surgery (RT+Surg) group, which was further separated in four groups depending on the timing of postoperative RT as RT+Surg-10 (RT on postoperative 10th day), RT+Surg-20 (RT on postoperative 20th day), RT+Surg-30 (RT on postoperative 30th day), and RT+Surg-40 (RT on postoperative 40th day). All the rats were sacrificed 8 weeks after the RT administration for histopathological analysis. Results: Compared with the RT+Surg-10 and RT+Surg-20 groups, the hyalinization and collagenization scores in RT+Surg-30 were determined to be significantly lower. Fibrosis scores were lower in the RT+Surg-30 group compared with the RT+Surg-20 group, whereas significantly lower inflammation scores were determined in the RT + Surg-40 group and significantly higher dermal thickness in the RT+Surg-30 group compared with the RT+Surg-10 group. Conclusions: The findings from this model of irradiated flap revealed the significance of the time lag among flap application and postoperative RT for histopathological outcome, emphasized the potential role of at least a 30- to 40-day interval between surgery and RT in achieving more favorable flap status. SP - 649 EP - 655 AU - Binicier, O. AU - Caskan, P.K. AU - Kapi, E. AU - Bozkurt, M. AU - Zincircioğlu, S.B. AU - Kulahcı, Y. AU - Selcuk, C.T. AU - Satici, O. AD - University of Health Sciences, Adana Faculty of Medicine, Health Application and Research Center, Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Adana, Turkey KW - TRAM flap KW - rat KW - timing of irradiation KW - experimental KW - histopathological outcomes. UR - http://ijrr.com/article-1-4359-en.html DO - 10.52547/ijrr.20.3.19 ER -