Reconstruction following lateral skull base surgery with introduction of facial incisionless reanimation surgery.
The large ablations needed to remove some lateral skull base pathologic conditions remain a challenge to the reconstructive surgeon. Major shortcomings abound despite significant development of surgical techniques and advances in the understanding of healing. The tremendous advances of the past 30 years with the dawn of major tissue transfer techniques, new biomaterials, and the use of surgical teams with enormous combined clinical knowledge bases have catapulted surgical reconstruction efforts. Progress has been tempered by the realization that normal tissue functions are still incompletely rebuilt. As work on tissue culture, genomic understanding, biomechanics, blood oxygenation substituted, and other research fronts progress and converge, newer and better ways of addressing lateral skull base reconstruction will arise.
Fritsch
Michael H
MH
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University Medical Center, 702 Barnhill Drive, Suite 0860, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000601:surgery*; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000601:surgery; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*