Head and neck reconstruction in vessel-depleted necks: Case report of a labio-mental and mandibular reconstruction using an arteriovenous loop.

Major defects of the facial structures cause severe functional and esthetic impairment. Difficulty in head and neck reconstruction lies in cases of secondary, tertiary, or further reconstruction. This is not a rare situation for patients who had cancer of the upper airways, since the rate of recurrence, second location, or osteoradionecrosis is high. Multiple surgeries and radiation therapy cause significant fibrosis and scar tissues, making any further reconstruction a major challenge for the surgeon when operating patients with vessel- depleted neck. We report our experience with a clinical case of a patient to whom we performed a double free flap reconstruction anastomosed on a vascular loop in a context of vascular cervical desert. In our case, the use of an arteriovenous loop proved to be a reliable approach for a vessel-depleted free tissue reconstruction. This technique has received insufficient attention, yet it provides a means to establish dependable vascular alternatives.

Transverse Facial Artery Perforators: Anatomical, Two- and Three-Dimensional Radiographic Study.

BACKGROUND: Increased anatomical knowledge of skin vascularization, such as the recent description of angiosome and perforasome concepts, has led to important innovations in flap surgery. In this sense, few studies have been performed on face vascularization especially for facial artery perforasomes. The aim of this study was to analyze the number, size, and localization of transverse facial artery perforators and their perfusion area. METHODS: Fourteen hemifaces of fresh adult cadavers from the Department of Anatomy of Lyon University were harvested. Transverse facial artery perforators were identified, dissected, cannulated, and selectively injected with 1 ml of patent blue or contrast solution. Photography, microangiography, and computed tomography were performed. Perforator diameter and localization from the lateral canthus were measured. Exact topography and size of the perforasome were analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-three transverse facial artery perforators were identified. Mean perforator diameter was 1.01 ± 0.3 mm. Mean perforating site was 31.0 ± 8.0 mm lateral to and 38.7 ± 8.8 mm below the lateral canthus. Mean single perforasome surface area was 25.3 ± 18.34 cm and mean transverse facial artery skin territory was 40.5 ± 9.78 cm. CONCLUSIONS: The transverse facial artery provides at least one perforator that can be accurately localized using a Doppler probe. Clinical applications related to the improved knowledge of transverse facial artery perforators could be as follows: (1) performing a lateral facial skin flap; (2) facial composite allotransplants; (3) face-lift procedures to improve skin perfusion; and (4) prevention of vessel injury in aesthetic procedures such as dermal filler injection or thread-lift techniques.

How accurate is the treatment of midfacial fractures by a specific navigation system integrating "mirroring" computational planning? Beyond mere average difference analysis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of a specific navigation system integrating "mirroring" computational planning in the treatment of midfacial fractures by comparing planned with actual postoperative 3-dimensional (3D) images. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Preoperative planned and postoperative 3D computed tomographic (CT) and cone-beam CT (CBCT) images of 20 patients with midfacial fractures were analyzed. Images were fused using dedicated software (iPlan Cranial 2.6). They were imported in Standard Tessellation Language (STL) format to open-source software (Meshlab) and resized to delineate the surgically repositioned portion of bone. The images were imported in STL format to ad hoc software for calculating the surface differences between the 2 3D images. The distribution of the differences was assessed using boxplots for each patient, and the proportion of the actual image close to the planned image was estimated by the proportion of values within an accuracy cutoff set at ±2 mm. RESULTS: The mean difference between the 2 3D surfaces was 0.12 mm. The proportion of values between the 2 surfaces and included within the interval of accuracy was greater than 90% in 6 patients (30%), 80 to 90% in 6 patients (30%), 50 to 80% in 7 patients (35%), and less than 50% in 1 patient (5%). CONCLUSION: This study showed that post-traumatic midfacial reconstruction can be accurately approximated and thus predicted by a specific navigation system integrating "mirroring" computational planning for most patients. Further study should examine risk factors for inaccurate prediction.