ABSTRACT
I. PRESENTING CONDITIONS Chest wall defects most commonly are the result of primary or recurrent neoplasms, radiation injury, and infections. In an effort to obtain wide clear margins at the time of surgical excision of malignancy, primary closure is often not possible. In addition, wide margins may include resection of extensive soft tissue and/or skeletal structures, thus limiting the use of primary skin grafting. Radiation injury and infections produce various degrees of tissue loss depending on their severity, and can be as extensive as tumor resections. These often occur in the same patient simultaneously, significantly complicating surgical reconstruction. A thorough knowledge of reconstructive options including the external oblique flap is needed to approach the chest wall defect adequately.
