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78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

16.05. - 20.05.2007, Munich

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Management of the secondary defect after raised a radial forearm fasciocutaneus flap

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German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Munich, 16.-20.05.2007. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2007. Doc07hno099

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2007/07hno099.shtml

Published: August 8, 2007

© 2007 Schoen et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Background: Free radial forearm flaps are established treatments for reconstructions in patient with head and neck cancer. Beside many advantages of the free radial forearm flap there are on the other hand disadvantages such as malperfusion of the anastomosis, functional disorders due to the more or less large donor defect e.g. flexor immobility and/or bad aesthetic results e.g. hypertrophic scars of the secondary defect.

Methods: The aim of this study was to improve the aesthetic and functional results of the secondary forearm defect. The follow-up examination on 12 consecutive patients who were operated with a free radial forearm flap were treated with our therapy concept. In our concept the forearm is immobilized for 10-14 days. It includes a pressure therapy with silicone sheets on the skin graft and an early physiotherapy of the forearm, hand and fingers. Pressure therapy is applied for 15 months.

Results: Our therapy concept included plastic-reconstructive surgery, physiotherapy and postoperative pressure therapy of the forearm. All of our 12 patients had excellent functional and aesthetic results.