Gabr EM, Kobayashi MR, Salibian AH, Armstrong WB, Sundine M, Calvert JW, and Evans GR. Surgery/Plastic Surgery, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, 101 The City Drive, Bldg.55, Rm.110, Rt.81, Orange, CA, USA
Introduction: In this study we compared the combined Iliac and Ulnar forearm free flaps with myocutaneous fibular free flaps for mandibular reconstruction. Patients and Methods: We conducted a reterospective study of 40 patients who had oromandibular reconstruction, of whom 23 patients had a combined Iliac crest without skin and Ulnar forearm free flap. 17 patients had a myocutaneous free fibula flap. 10 females and 30 males with mean age 57.47 years comprised our study population. 90% of the cases were squamous cell carcinoma (55% T4) of which 11% were recurrent tumors. Anterolateral mandibular defects constituted 52.9% of the fibular reconstructions and 60.9% for the iliac/ulnar reconstructions. The mean bone gaps were 8.79cm and 8.95cm respectively. Functional evaluation was based on University of Washington Questionare(UWQ) through phone calls and personal communication with patients. Results: The mean hospital stay was 15.43 and 10.09 days for the fibulas and iliacs/ulnar flaps, respectively. The facial artery (64.7%) and the facial vein (60%) were the main recipient vessels for the fibular reconstructions while the external carotid (95.6%) and internal jugular (66.7%) were the main recipient vessels for the iliac/ulncar. The overall flap survival was 96.8%(100% of fibulas and 95.65% of iliac/ulnar). Two flaps were lost completely in the iliac series because of unsalvageable venous thrombosis. Local complications for the iliacs were 30.4% while it was 5.9% for fibular reconstructions. Function such as speech, swallowing and chewing were significantly better in the fibulas than the iliac/ulnar. Cosmetic acceptence of 77.8% of the fibulas were excellent and good while 71.4% of the iliac/ulnar was rated good. Conclusion: It appears that within this study population the free myocutaneous fibular flap had fewer local complications and higher flap survival than did the combined iliac and ulnar forearm flaps. Overall functional outcome also was improved. The use of the double flap may be appropriate in massive oromandibular defects but may be less appropriate in more modest functional reconstruction of mandibular defects