The anterolateral thigh flap with vascularized fascia lata applied in head and neck defects

Introduction The study is to assess outcomes of patients undergoing reconstruction with the anter-olateral thigh flap with vascularized fascia lata (ALT-FL) in the subsequent of oncologic resection for carcinoma of oral cavity, oropharynx, and maxillary, as well as osteoradionecrosis debridement of the skull base.

Materials and Methods It is a retrospective study of 38 patients underwent on-cologic resection, including 11 oropharynx, 5 oral cavity, 3 maxillary, as well as 18 nasopharyngeal skull base defects after osteoradionecrosis debridement, in the subsequent reconstruction with the ALT-FL flap from May 2019 to June 2022. A series of cases with notes of surgical techniques, peri-operative treatment and outcomes were also presented.

Results Average hospital stay was 10.8 days. Total operative time was 10.3 hours. There were two serious complications, include one mortality because of sepsis and one carotid artery hemorrhage because of pseudoaneurysm. Visualized in oral cavity and oropharynx, ALT-FL flap would be epithelialized in post-operative 4 to 6 months. For maxillary defects, anastomosis between ALT-FL free flap and residual mucosal simply by using several needles could fill fascial component and and prevent the orocutaneous and nasocutaneous fistula. The most satisfied results were found in oradionecrosis patients: 89.4% had headache and foul odor relief.

Conclusions The ALT-FL flap is a reliable flap for defects of oral cavity, orophar-ynx, and maxillary and for osteoradionecrosis debridement.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
19. April 2024