Oral cancers reconstructed Primarily with the free forearm flap : Analysis of 22 cases.

Shin-ichi Ige, Makoto Ohnishi, Kazuhito Horino, Ikuo Kasai, Tokio Ohyama
Department Of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Nagaoka Red Cross Hospital (Chief: Dr. Makoto Ohnishi)

Abstract :
　　Recently, microvascular free flap transfer has been frequently used in oral surgery to preserve oral function and to increase the Q.O.L. of patients. Clinical study was performed on 22 patients (male: 14, female: 8) with oral cancer reconstructed primarily with the free radial forearm flap during the 7 years from 1987 to 1993. The average age of the patients was 57.6 years. The sites of involvement were the tongue in 12 patients, floor of the mouth in 5 patients and gingiva of the mandible in 5 patients. The cancers were in an advanced stage in most patients. The average time of operation was 10 hours and 48 minutes. The suprathyroid artery was anastomosed to the radial artery in over a half of the patients. The flaps survived completely in 19 patients (86%). Postoperative speech and swallowing functions were fine or fair in all patients, but masticatory function was poor in 4 patients (18%). The 5-year survival was 79.4%.

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