Reverse facial artery flap to reconstruct the medium-sized defects in the middle facial region following cancer ablation.
This retrospective clinical study assessed the reliability of the reverse facial artery flap to reconstruct the medium-sized defects in the middle facial region following cancer ablation.Fifteen medium-sized defects were repaired with reversed facial artery flap following cancer surgery. The ages of the patients ranged from 2 to 69 years; 9 were male and 6 were female. The primary lesions included palate (5 cases), maxillary gingival (6 cases), cheek or buccal mucosa (3 case), and upper lip (1 case). The size of the skin paddle varied from 4.0 cm × 6.0 cm to 5.0 cm × 10.0 cm. Direct closure was achieved at all donor sites. Fourteen of the 15 flaps survived. No donor-site problems occurred. Two patients appeared to have temporary injury of facial nerve after operation. The follow-up period ranged from 8 to 36 months; 1 patient died as a result of local recurrence and 1 patient developed cervical recurrence.Consequently, it has been demonstrated that the reversed facial artery flap had reliable blood supply and can reliably and conveniently be used for reconstruction of the medium-sized defects, especially in the middle third of oral and maxillofacial region.
From the *Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, and †Guanghua School of Stomatology and Institute of Stomatological Research, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Xiao-peng
XP
Zhao
Hong
H
Zhang
Xin
X
Yu
Jian-guang
JG
Wang
Bin
B
Zhang
Chao-bin
CB
Pan
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001158:Arteries / Q000601:surgery; D002610:Cheek / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005887:Gingival Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008048:Lip Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008441:Maxillary Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010157:Palatal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult