Quality of Life after oral cancer resection and free flap reconstruction

Publication date: Available online 25 February 2019

Source: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Author(s): Shuai Wang, Shoucheng Yin, Ze-liang Zhang, Xingzhou Su, Zhong-fei Xu

Abstract

Purpose

This study focused on quality of life for patients in northeast China who underwent oral cancer resection directly before flap reconstruction. Additionally, this study compared differences between the radial forearm free flap (RFFF), ulnar forearm free flap (UFFF), and anterolateral thigh flap (ALTF) for defect reconstruction.

Methods

To assess the patients' quality of life, the UW-QOL (University of Washington Quality of Life) and OHIP-14 (14-Item Oral Health Impact Profile) questionnaires were given six months after reconstruction.

Results

The flap size of the ALTF group was much larger than that of the UFFF and RFFF groups. Meanwhile, the appearance score in the ALTF group was significantly higher than that in the UFFF and RFFF groups, while these groups had a much higher swallowing score than the ALTF group did. Furthermore, the ALTF group had much lower social disability OHIP-14 scores than the RFFF group did.

Conclusion

The results indicate that all three reconstruction methods are similar, but ALTF has a slight advantage over UFFF and RFFF.

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