• Soroush Zaghi, Jennifer Danesh, Leenoy Hendizadeh, Vishad Nabili, and Keith E Blackwell.
• Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
• Laryngoscope. 2014 Jun 1;124(6):1329-35.

Objectives/HypothesisTo characterize the changing indications for osseous free flaps in maxillomandibular reconstruction at our institution.Study DesignRetrospective chart review.MethodsDatabase review of patients who underwent free-flap reconstruction of the jaws using vascularized bone-containing free tissue transfer from 1995 to 2012 at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).ResultsA total of 620 osseous free flaps were performed. The most common indications for surgery were squamous cell carcinoma (n = 442) and osteoradionecrosis (ORN)) of the mandible (n = 73). There were no significant differences in 90-day perioperative complication, flap viability, or mortality rates between any of the indications for surgery. Patients older than 60 years had a higher rate of major perioperative complication (P = 0.0028). ORN cases represented 1.3% ± 1.2% of surgical volume from 1995 to 2000, 8.7% ± 1.8% from 2001 to 2006, and 17.5% ± 2.2% from 2007 to 2012 (P <0.0001). Among cases of ORN, 95.8% of patients had radiation therapy completed at centers outside of our hospital system. For patients with ORN, there was an average interval of 8.7 ± 8.0 years from initiation of radiotherapy to the date of mandibulectomy (range 1-37 years).ConclusionThe incidence of ORN as an indication for free-flap reconstruction has increased at our institution in recent years. This may reflect an increasing need for the surgical management of medically refractory ORN, a rising awareness or prevalence of ORN overall, and/or increasing comfort with free flaps as a treatment for ORN. Patients who undergo free-flap surgery for ORN do not have greater risks of 90-day perioperative complications or differences in free-flap viability as compared to patients who undergo free-flap reconstruction for other indications.Level Of Evidence2b.© 2013 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

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