Anterolateral thigh free flap in reconstruction of lateral skull base defects after oncological resection.

PURPOSE: Evaluation of the utility of the free anterolateral thigh flap reconstruction of the defects resulting from radical temporal bone resection in the management of lateral skull base malignancies in a single institution. METHODS: An analysis of 17 en bloc subtotal petrosectomies for removal of malignant tumours was performed. There were 12 squamous cell carcinomas, 4 basal cell carcinomas and 1 adenoid cystic carcinoma. The tumours were staged with the University of Pittsburgh TNM system. In all patients, the lateral temporal bone with the preservation of the petrous apex and carotid artery was performed. All patients had parotid gland resection. The post-resection defect was reconstructed with an ALT free flap. RESULTS: Tumour radical resection and defect reconstruction with an ALT flap was achieved in all patients without intraoperative complications. The transplants were harvested as fasciocutaneous flaps, 11 perfused by musculocutaneous and 6 by septocutaneous perforators. The ALT flaps had a mean pedicle length of 8 cm (6-12 cm), and the flap size ranged between 6 × 15 cm and 15 × 30 cm. The flaps were supplied by nine facial, five occipital and three maxillary arteries. Recipient-site veins included eight internal jugular, seven facial, one retromandibular and one external jugular vein. All arterial pedicles were anastomosed in an end-to-end manner. The veins were anastomosed with interrupted sutures and in 11 cases with Synovis-Coupler® devices. All the flap transfers were performed successfully. Three patients experienced postoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS: The ALT flap proved to be effective for covering large temporal skull base defects resulting from the radical removal of temporal bone malignancies. The functional and cosmetic results were acceptable with a low complication rate.

Long-term endonasal endoscopic review of successful duraplasty after endonasal endoscopic skull base surgery.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to examine the long-term endonasal endoscopic morphological appearance of successful duraplasty after endoscopic skull base surgery for different pathology. METHODS: This study included 65 patients who underwent endonasal endoscopic surgery for different skull base lesions with successful duraplasty. Forty patients had pituitary adenomas, 25 with macroadenomas and 15 with microadenomas. Twenty patients with cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea of different etiologies and three patients with meningoencephalocele were included. There were two patients with skull base meningiomas, 1 with an extensive greater wing meningioma reaching the nasal cavity and the 1 with recurrent olfactory groove meningioma. Different types of autologous materials were used in reconstructing the skull base defect. Clinical follow-up with endoscopic nasal examination was done routinely 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. CT and MRI were performed when indicated. The follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 8 years. RESULTS: Starting from 3 months after surgery to the rest of the follow-up period, endonasal endoscopic view of the site of duraplasty showed that with small skull base defect (<5 mm), there was neither dural pulsation nor prolapse. With moderate-size defect (5-10 mm) there was dural pulsation without prolapse. With larger defect (>10 mm) there was dural pulsation and prolapse. These findings were constant regardless of the etiology of the lesion and the reconstruction material used. CONCLUSION: This long-term study showed that dural pulsation and prolapse at the site of the successful duraplasty is a function of the size of the bony defect and does not depend on the pathology of the lesion or the autologous material used for reconstruction. For any future endonasal procedure for these patients, the surgeons should be fully aware of the state of duraplasty to avoid any complication.