Reconstruction of the Cercival Esophagus by Microsurgical Transfer of an Intestinal Segment

Reconstruction of the cervical esophagus following radical tumor excision and concomitant radiochemotherapy is still a challenging problem in head and neck surgery. A wide variety of technical procedures which have been applied over the years depend on the subspeciality and qualification of the unit the patient has been admitted to. General surgeons most frequently use the pedicled hemicolon or the gastric pull-up to the level of the piriforme sinuses as an interpositional graft. Plastic surgeons and ENT surgeons initially preferred pedicled lipocuta-neous flaps from the chest wall, while more recently there has been evidence of lower complication rates with the introduction of myocutaneous flaps from the pectoralis major and trapezius muscle [4].