- In order to restore aesthetic appearance and/or function after removal of large masses in the head and neck, some patients require reconstruction of the defect.
- Reconstruction can be simple or complex and decisions are made in a stepwise fashion.
- Options include:
- Skin grafts (taking full or split thickness skin from one part of the body to another)
- Cutaneous flaps (moving skin with its blood supply from an area very close by, called a local flap, or from a bit further away, called a regional flap). Examples include a nasolabial flap (local), cervical flap (regional) and a deltopectoral flap (regional).
- Myocutaneous flaps (moving both muscle and skin with its blood supply from an area close to the resection site). An example is a pectoralis major flap.
- Microvascular free tissue transfer (moving skin, muscle, fascia, bone or a combination of any of the above from distant parts of the body, dividing it’s blood supply and reconnecting this blood supply to arteries and veins in the neck). Examples include a radial forearm, anterolateral thigh, and fibula free flap.
Other procedures
Clear Filters
Skull base
Nose, paranasal sinus and anterior skull base
Oral cavity
Oropharynx (throat behind the mouth)
Hypopharynx (throat behind the voice box)
Larynx (voice box)
Tracheal stenosis
Neck
Thyroid and parathyroid glands
Salivary glands and sialoendoscopy
Neurogenic tumours and paragangliomas
Soft tissue tumours and tumours of vascular origin and lymphatic malformations
Bone tumours and odontogenic lesions
Reconstructive surgery