Modification of facial artery myomucosal flap: a novel perforator flap for upper aerodigestive tract reconstruction after head and neck cancer ablation.

Abstract

Our new modification is a perforator cheek island flap. Flap pedicle is solely based on the facial artery and vena comitans on its surface without facial vein, which is usually sacrified during level I node dissection in most of head and neck cancer surgeries. Our new flap can utilize the entire cheek mucosal area, larger than conventional facial artery myomucosal flap to repair various upper aerodigestive tract defects after head and neck cancer ablation irrespective of pre/postoperative irradiation. The procedure for our flap is more simplified than that of the existing tunnelized facial artery myomucosal island flap. Our flap has the advantage of ‘like-the-like flap, high success rate and concealed donor site. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.