Summary
For advanced HNC, even with treatment with developing surgical, nonoperative, and comprehensive methods, the postoperative recurrence rate reaches up to 20% to 30%, with or without distant metastasis; however, the median survival time is only 6 months.
Original Article
Complex reconstruction technique applied in advanced head and neck cancer
Medicine
Gan, Weigang MDa; Xiang, Yu MBb; Lv, Dan MDa; Liu, Jun MDa; Wang, Haiyang MDa; Deng, Di MDa; Wang, Ji MBa; Li, Linke MMa; Ma, Tengfei MDa; Liu, Shixi MDa; Chen, Fei MDa,∗
Abstract
Complex reconstruction skills in advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) could resolve the key problem of large defects after tumor resection. We combined the anterolateral thigh free flap, fascia lata flap, and greater saphenous vein graft in the reconstruction process of salvage surgery. Seven patients suffering from advanced HNC who experienced the failure of multiple therapeutic methods were enrolled in our study between June 2017 and January 2018. They all agreed to voluntarily undergo the tumor excision and complex reconstruction procedure we developed. The total flap size ranged from 20 × 13 cm to 30 × 15 cm. The length of the greater saphenous vein graft ranged from 4 to 11 cm. The hospitalization period ranged from 7 to 33 days. All of the flaps were viable, but in 1 patient, oral flap edge infection and necrosis necessitated partial debridement on day 7 postoperatively. All donor sites were closed primarily. We report our experience with this surgical method for complex reconstruction in advanced HNC patients.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: Fei Chen.
Data curation: Yu Xiang, Di Deng, Linke Li, Tengfei Ma.
Investigation: Tengfei Ma.
Methodology: Dan Lv, Haiyang Wang.
Resources: Jun Liu, Ji Wang.
Supervision: Shixi Liu, Fei Chen.
Writing – original draft: Weigang Gan.