Premium
Lateral thoracic artery as recipient vessel for head and neck free flap reconstruction in the vessel depleted neck: A case report
Author(s) -
Ibrahim Ahmed S. G.,
Kakarala Kiran,
Bur Andrés M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
microsurgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.031
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1098-2752
pISSN - 0738-1085
DOI - 10.1002/micr.30419
Subject(s) - medicine , osteoradionecrosis , head and neck , free flap , clavicle , surgery , artery , great vessels , anatomy , radiology , radiation therapy
Vessel depleted necks present a challenge to identifying suitable recipient vessels for microvascular head and neck reconstruction. Many alternative recipient vessels have been described. The purpose of this report is to describe the feasibility of using the lateral thoracic artery as a recipient vessel for head and neck free flap reconstruction in vessel depleted necks. In this report we describe surgery for a 62 year old male with osteoradionecrosis of the right mandibular body in which we performed right segmental mandibulectomy with free fibular flap reconstruction in a vessel depleted neck. We used the lateral thoracic artery which was ~10 cm in length. It provided good reach to the neck, proper blood flow, and acceptable vessel diameter of ~1.5 mm at 6 cm above the clavicle. The patient had an uncomplicated postoperative course and the flap was viable and well healed at 2 months follow‐up. The lateral thoracic artery could be considered as one of the options for recipient vessels for microvascular reconstruction in patients with vessel depleted necks.