EXTENDED SHOULDER FLAP AND ITS USE IN RECONSTRUCTION OF DEFECTS OF HEAD AND NECK

In the experience of the surgeon who most frequently treats patients with cancer of the head and neck, many of the recommended reconstruction procedures fail to satisfy the need for a simple, dependable, and rapid technic for cosmetic and functional restoration. The trend toward the use of preoperative radiation, and the attendant high incidence of failure of primary wound healing, make the development of efficient means of reconstructing large defects even more mandatory. To this end, the extended shoulder flap offers several advantages over methods of reconstruction currently used, the most important ones being the proximity of the vascular base of the pedicle to the areas to be reconstructed, the relatively few operations required with its use, the relative ease with which the technical aspects of management of the flap can be mastered, and the minimal cosmetic deformity at the donor site. It can be used to reconstruct any defect of the head and neck region, including those defects that extend past the midline. © 1969.