Microvascular free-flap transfer for head and neck reconstruction in elderly patients

BMC Surgery

Research Article

Paola Bonavolont๠ Pasquale Graziano¹  Giovanni Dell'Aversana Orabona¹  Francesco Turrಠ Sergio Razzano²  Fabrizio Schonauer²  Sergio Marlino²  Luigi Canta²  Simone La Padula²  Gisella Nele² 

[1] Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Federico II University, Via S.Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy;Unit of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Federico II University, Via S.Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy;

关键词: Free Flap;    Flap Loss;    Neck Reconstruction;    Microvascular Free Flap;    Flap Complication;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2482-13-S2-S27

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWith the increase in life expectancy, the incidence of head and neck cancer has grown in the elderly population. Free tissue transfer has become the first choice, among all the reconstructive techniques, in these cases. The safety and success of micro vascular transfer have been well documented in the general population, but its positive results achieved in elderly patients have received less attention.MethodsWe retrospectively studied 28 patients over the age of 60 years. The aim of this paper was to study the success rate of free tissue transfer and investigate the complication incidence in this patient population.ResultsTwenty-eight free flaps were performed to reconstruct medium to large cervico-facial surgical defects in six years. No difference was noted between success and complication rates observed between general and elderly population.ConclusionThis study indicates that free-flap technique for head and neck reconstruction could be considered a safe option in elderly patients when a good pre-operative general status is present.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Turrà et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.