title: [Surgical strategy for postburn cervical scar contracture].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the surgical strategy for postburn cervical scar contracture.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-five patients with scar contracture as a result of burn injury in the neck were hospitalized from July 2013 to July 2014. Release of cervical scar contracture was conducted according to different demands of the 3 anatomic subunits of neck, i.e. lower lip vermilion border-supramaxillary region, submaxillary region, and anterior region of neck. After release of contracture, platysma was released. For some cases with chin retrusion, genioplasty with horizontal osteotomy was performed. The coverage of wound followed the principle of similarity, i.e. the skin tissue covering the wound in the neck should be similar to the characters of skin around the wound in terms of color, texture, and thickness. Based on this principle, except for the preschool children in whom skin grafting was performed, the wounds of the other patients were covered by local skin flaps, adjacent skin flaps, or free skin flaps.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients underwent release of scar and platysma, while 9 patients underwent genioplasty with horizontal osteotomy. Wounds were covered with local skin flaps in 32 patients, with adjacent skin flaps in 7 patients, with free skin flaps in 11 patients, and with skin grafts in 15 patients. All skin grafts and flaps survived. Good range of motion was achieved in the neck of all patients, with the cervicomental angle after reconstruction ranging from 90 to 120°. All patients were followed up for 6 to 24 months. Six patients who had undergone skin grafting were found to have some degrees of skin contracture, while none of the patients who had undergone flap coverage showed any signs of contracture recurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Restoration of the cervicomental angle is critical in the treatment of postburn cervical scar contracture, and the release of scar contracture should conform to the subunit principle. The coverage of wound should be based on the principle of similarity, with repair by skin flaps as the first choice, and skin grafting as the second choice. Satisfactory effect of repair would be achieved by following the above surgical principles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Shaoqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Weijie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Peiru
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Min
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Zheming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China; Email: zhangyixin6688@163.com.
authors.forename: Yixin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D003286:Contracture / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D058752:Free Tissue Flaps; D006801:Humans; D009333:Neck / Q000601:surgery*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012867:Skin; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D000069259:Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D016896:Treatment Outcome