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Functional tongue and floor of mouth reconstruction with a chimeric flap after total glossectomy

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Abstract

Purpose

Presently, the functional reconstruction of the tongue in patients after subtotal or total glossectomy with the removal of the oral floor muscles and spearing of the larynx remains a complicated and unsolved issue. The aim of this case is to describe a method reconstruction of the tongue in patients after total glossectomy with the removal of the oral floor muscles using the chimeric latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior free flap (chimeric LD + SA flap) with motor innervation.

Methods

A 62-year-old woman with advanced cancer of the oral cavity was submitted to total glossectomy and then reconstruction with a chimeric LD + SA flap. With this method reconstruction of the tongue was made the creation a large mound (neotongue) lateral to the mandibular arch which can easily reach the palatal arch and also was made suspension of the larynx is essential given the ablative loss of supra-hyoid attachments.

Results

Our preliminary experience shows that this flap is a good reconstructive option for total glossectomy with the removal of the oral floor muscles and with larynx preservation. Functional and objective evaluation of the tongue reconstructed with chimeric LD + SA free flap requires further and standardized evaluation.

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Correspondence to Alexander V. Mordovskiy.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Polyakov, A.P., Mordovskiy, A.V., Ratushnyy, M.V. et al. Functional tongue and floor of mouth reconstruction with a chimeric flap after total glossectomy. Oral Maxillofac Surg 25, 271–277 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10006-020-00907-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10006-020-00907-x

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