Fascia lata grafts are commonly employed as support structures in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Despite this widespread application, little objective testing has been published regarding the biomechanical features of this graft particularly as related to the clinical relevance of directional orientation.

Pressure ulcers remain a major concern for healthcare facilities, from both economical and quality-of-care points of view, but with proper patient care their occurrence can be reduced. Interestingly, studies as rare as they are on this particular subject demonstrate that even though a 7 to 29 % range of incidents for pressure sores exists in the general acute care population, the incidence increases to an alarming 12 to 66 % rate for pressure sores acquired intra-operatively. Studies examining factors most likely associated with intra-operatively acquired pressure ulcers have not resulted in the development of reliable risk reduction tools adequately intervening in the surgical patient population.