[Reconstruction of tissue defects with forehead island flap in gerontal patients after oral cancer surgery].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of repairing oral tissue defects with forehead island flap after oral cancer surgery in gerontal patients.


METHODS
Reconstruction of oral tissue defects with forehead island flap was performed simultaneously after radical excision in 13 gerontal patients suffering from oral cancers. Eight forehead flaps were introduced into oral cavity under zygomatic arch, 5 were around the zygomatic arch into the oral cavity. The flaps were used to repair oral tissue defects, such as the cheek, tongue, retromolar region and floor of mouth.


RESULTS
All the flaps survived well. The defect of forehead donor region was repaired with free skin graft. The color of skin graft was close to normal skin 1 year after operation, the forehead deformity was not obvious, but the skin mobility was poor. No tumor recurrence and metastasis occurred during 6 months to 2 years of follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Reconstruction of oral cavity with forehead island flap is suitable for gerontal patients with oral cancer.
Xie
Jia-min
JM
Department of Oral maxillofacial Surgery, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou 225300, Jiangsu Province, China. xie_jiamin@126.com
Lv
Chun-hua
CH
Xia
Jun
J
Liu
Yan-feng
YF
D000368:Aged; D005145:Face; D005546:Forehead; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013515:Surgery, Oral; D013524:Surgical Flaps