Our Review of Free Tissue Transfers for Head and Neck Reconstruction

Abstract

We performed a retrospective review of 60 free tissue transfers for head and neck reconstruction in our department between September 2015 and May 2019. The patients were 44 males and 15 females with a mean age of 60.6 years. The reconstructed sites were the oral cavity（18 cases）, hypopharynx（18 cases）, oropharynx（11 cases）, maxillary（5 cases）, and mandible（5 cases）. The number and type of free tissue transfer performed were as follows: free jejunal flap: 18 cases, radial forearm flap: 13 cases, anterolateral thigh flap: 9 cases, rectus abdominis flap: 8 cases, and groin flap: 6 cases. We mainly used the superior thyroid artery（35 cases）, cervical transverse artery（17 cases）, internal jugular vein（69 cases）, and external jugular vein（16 cases）as recipient vessels. There were 3 cases of flap failure and 4 cases of partial flap necrosis, resulting in an overall flap survival of 95.0%. We also considered the causes in cases with unfavorable results.