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Surgical Site Dressing

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Complex Head and Neck Microvascular Surgery

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Abstract

Timely healing for patients with head and neck cancer requiring free flap reconstruction and adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy is directly linked to improved overall survival. However, complications in healing at donor sites reconstructed with skin grafts, including the skin graft donor sites themselves, are common and can delay initiation of adjuvant therapy. Therefore, proper management of surgical dressings and wound care are essential for effectively treating head and neck cancer patients.

Lack of standardized recommendations and controversies regarding the reconstruction and management of donor-site defects often leave surgeons to their own devices. This chapter presents evidence-based recommendations and suggestions for dressing recipient and donor surgical sites, paying particular attention to skin graft donor sites and healing at the fibula and radial forearm flap donor sites.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Dina Amin

  2. LSU Health, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Waleed Zaid

Authors
  1. Dina Amin
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  2. Waleed Zaid
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Correspondence to Dina Amin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Good Samaritan Hospital, AQ Surgery: Head and Neck, Microvascular Institute, West Palm Beach, FL, USA

    Anastasiya Quimby

  2. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surg, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Sat Parmar

  3. College of Medicine, University of Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Rui Fernandes

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Amin, D., Zaid, W. (2023). Surgical Site Dressing. In: Quimby, A., Parmar, S., Fernandes, R. (eds) Complex Head and Neck Microvascular Surgery . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38898-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38898-9_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-38897-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-38898-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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