SURGICAL RESECTION OF ORAL AND OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER WITH PEDICLE FLAP RECONSTRUCTION

Seventy patients with squamous cell cancer of the oral cavity or oropharynx, because of advanced disease, or excision of residual or recurrent disease after radiotherapy required pedicle flap reconstruction. All were treated before 1 january 1976. Analysis of the outcome of these patients, some of whom were elderly, and most heavy smokers, showed that 17 (24.3%) survived 10 years or more. Age, metastatic neck nodes, and prior failure of radiation therapy to control the cancer did not seem to influence the prognosis significantly. It is concluded that, if patients are fit, and a reasonable quality of life can be assured with either a pedicle or vascularized free flap reconstruction, major resection is justified when technically feasible.