Post-transferred tissue expansion of a musculocutaneous free flap for debulking and further reconstruction.

Abstract

A free flap used for face and neck reconstruction usually results in tissue bulking and needs several debulking procedures to match the contour of the face and neck. In this paper we report an experience with a patient who underwent tissue expansion of a transplanted musculocutaneous free flap in the face for debulking of the flap and four further aesthetic reconstructions of the face and neck. The result shows that a transplanted free flap tolerates tissue expansion well. The versatile use of tissue expansion shows obvious advantages in that the transplanted flap is not only enlarged substantially by means of tissue expansion, but it is also debulked at the same time of achieve a desired thin flap for further reconstruction of the face and neck.