Reconstruction in head and neck: A challenge in oncology

Abstract

Encompassing with the advances in the preferred treatment modalities for head and neck cancer, the management of surgical defects has changed significantly over the last decades. With the advent of improved perioperative management in the 1940-50s, radical ablative surgery became the mainstay for treatment of advanced tumors in this region, which was routinely followed by radiation therapy. Unfortunately, reconstructive surgery did not advance at the same pace, and there were no reliable reconstructive options to rehabilitate these patients. Furthermore, head and neck surgeons and oto- laryngologists of the time did not consider reconstruction as an important part of the surgical treatment. However, in the last decades, reconstructive surgery has presented different advances that have made it possible to complement the management of these pathologies, delivering an oncological therapy with less cosmetic and functional morbi- dity. This review aims in general to make known the different types of flap, its indications and options in reconstructive surgery of the head and neck, of utmost importance for the services that handle oncological pathology of this anatomical region.