title: [Submental island pedicled flap for reconstruction of oral soft defects after oral cancer ablation].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of the submental island pedicled flap (SIPF) for the repair of oral soft defects following oral cancer ablation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty consecutive patients undergoing resection of oral cancer followed by reconstruction with SIPF from February 2010 to March 2013 were reviewed. The effectiveness complications, oral function recovering and oncologic outcomes after reconstructive operation with SIPF were evaluated.SPSS software was used to analyze the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dimensions of SIPF ranged from a minimum of 4 cm×6 cm to a maximum of 6 cm×15 cm. Of the 30 flaps, 28 were survival completely, one had superficial necrosis but healed with treatments, and one failed due to complete necrosis, with a survival rate of 96.7% (29/30). Operative time ranged from a minimum of 4.5 hours to a maximum of 7.5 hours, mean 6.8 hours, and hospital stay time was 11-18 days, mean 13 days. Thirteen patients (43.3%) received tracheotomy before SIPF operation. Surgical or postoperative complications included temporary marginal mandibular never palsy in one case, neck hematoma in one case, hydrops in the mandibular region in 7 cases, and neck infectionin in 2 cases. Postoperative functional results showed mouth opening was normal in 23 patients, light limitation of mouth opening in 6 cases and obvious limitation of mouth opening in one case. The speech function was re-obtained satisfactorily in 29 patients, but one case with poor speech function. Most patients showed normal swallowing function, of them 26 patients on a full oral diet, 3 patients on a soft diet and one patient on a liquid diet only. Postoperative follow-up time was for 6-19 months (median 13 months), and 4 patients had local recurrence and 2 patients had cervical lymph node metastases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SIPF is safe, reliable and simple for the reconstruction of middle-small oral soft defects following resection of early-stage oral cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Huai'an First People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an 223300, China.
authors.forename: Hanqian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Huiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Peking University School of Stomatology, 100081 Beijing, Email: maochicn@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008334:Mandible; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D009333:Neck; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D014945:Wound Healing