Expertise in Head and Neck Cutaneous Reconstructive Surgery

The management of skin cancers has evolved with the development of Mohs micrographic surgery and a greater emphasis on surgical training within dermatology. It is unclear whether these changes have translated into innovations and contributions to the reconstructive literature.

To assess contributions from each medical specialty to the cutaneous head and neck oncologic reconstructive literature.

The authors conducted a systematic review of the head and neck reconstructive literature from 2000 through 2015 based on a priori search terms relating to suture technique, linear closure, advancement, rotation, transposition and interpolation flaps, and identified the specialty of the senior authors.

The authors identified 74,871 articles, of which 1,319 were relevant. Under suture technique articles, the senior authors were primarily dermatologists (58.2%) and plastic surgeons (20.3%). Under linear closure, the authors were dermatologists (48.1%), plastic surgeons (22.2%), and otolaryngologists (20.4%). Under advancement and rotation flaps, the senior authors were plastic surgeons (40.5%, 38.9%), dermatologists (38.1%, 34.2%), and otolaryngologists (14.4%, 21.6%). Under transposition and interpolation flaps, the senior authors were plastic surgeons (47.3%, 39.4%), dermatologists (32.3%, 27.0%), and otolaryngologists (15.3%, 23.4%).

The primary specialties contributing to the cutaneous head and neck reconstructive literature are plastic surgery, dermatology, and otolaryngology.