Summary Ultrasonography of Vascularized Free Flap Donor Sites and Its Clinical Implication

Abstract

Vascularized free tissue transfer is a method of choice to reconstruct a defect after head and neck cancer surgery. We tried to estimate the thickness of free tissue donor sites with utrasonography for an aid of donor site selection. A total of 26 patients who actually got free tissue reconstruction were examined preoperatively thickness of each donor site with ultrasonograpy. The average thickness measured with this method was as follows in the order of thin to thick; radial forearm; 3.8 mm, peroneal; 4.7 mm, lateral arm; 6.5 mm, scapular; 8.5 mm, iliac; 10.3 mm, latissimus dorsi; 13.5 mm, pectoralis myocutaneous; 17.5 mm, rectus abdominis; 24.9 mm. A thicker donor site tends to have more inter-individual variation in thickness. Preoperative ultrasonographic evaluation is beneficial for surgeons because this method can let surgeons know accurate thickness of donor tissues. This method helps determining if the donor site could fit well to a particular defect.