Background: Nitroglycerin is a vasodilator that has been reported to improve cutaneous flap and graft survival. It has not been tested in controlled studies.
Objective: We designed our study to test the effectiveness of a single postoperative application of nitroglycerin on flap and graft survival.
Methods: Eighty-eight surgical repairs received topical nitroglycerin and 85 received control ointment (polysporin). Treatment sites were evaluated on postoperative day 7 and assigned a percentage of surface area survival.
Results: There was no significant difference in the complication rate of flaps and grafts treated with nitroglycerin (12.5%) compared with those treated with control ointment (8.4%) (P = .244). Subset analysis of flaps as a group and grafts as a group were not meaningful because the complication rates were so low.
Conclusion: There is no survival increase of flaps and grafts treated with a single application of nitroglycerin ointment.