Microvascular Reconstruction

• Microvascular flap surgery (free tissue transfer) is a technique of transferring a patient’s own tissue from one region of the body to another for purposes of reconstructing defects of the head and neck as a result of tumors, facial trauma or infections
• The surgeon is able to “auto-transplant” any tissue type including, bone muscle and skin.
• This type of surgery is often very lengthy and labor intensive due to the need for suturing of blood vessels under an operating microscope
• Success rates for microvascular surgery are excellent but require close monitoring of the flap blood flow via special Doppler probes (measure the “heartbeat” of the flap) during the post-operative hospitalization
• Common donor sites selected for head and neck reconstruction include:
  • Fibula (leg bone)
  • Iliac crest (hip bone)
  • Scapula (shoulder blade)
  • Forearm/wrist skin (forearm flap)
  • Thigh skin (thigh flap)
• Dr. Donita Dyalram and Dr. Joshua E. Lubek are experts in microvascular reconstructive surgery and perform numerous procedures every year