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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
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Published on: May 10, 2021
Does microvascular free flap reconstruction in oral squamous cell carcinoma improve patient survival?
Claudio Marchetti1, Angelo Pizzigallo, Riccardo Cipriani
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Objective:
We analyzed our experiences with microvascular reconstruction after oncologic resections for oral squamous cell carcinoma. Has microvascular surgery changed the survival rate of these patients?
Design:
Retrospective study.
Subjects And Methods:
Forty-two consecutive patients enrolled from March 1999 to December 2004. Follow-up time ranged from 1 to 94 months. Survival rates were evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared among different groups with the use of Cox regression.
Results:
The actuarial 5-year survival rate was 41.9% (SD = 9.6%). Survival rates were also analyzed according to T, N, and stage. The survival was significantly related only to N, which showed a 72.4% increase in the risk related to the increase of one N stage.
Conclusions:
A comparison between our study group and those of 3 previous similar studies would not provide definitive statistical evidence, but it could certainly suggest a trend. The comparison seems to support that microvascular free tissue transfer does not change the survival of these patients.