Microvascular reconstruction outcomes from a New Zealand Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Unit

The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) Department at Waikato District Health Board (WDHB) is the only current OMS unit within New Zealand to reconstruct oral cavity defects with microvascular free flaps. The primary objective of the study was to retrospectively analyse the demographics, outcomes and complications of free flap surgery patients at WDHB.An OMS reconstruction database was developed and data collected retrospectively. 75 free flaps were performed on 74 patients between 2012 and 2020. There were 34 females and 40 males, with a mean and median age of 62 and 64 respectively. The tongue was the most common site of resection, and squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent diagnosis. The radial forearm free flap was used most often followed by the fibula and anterolateral thigh flaps. The Clavien-Dindo classification was used to classify complications, with 10 patients having "major" complications and 34 patients having "minor" complications. Flap success rate was 98.7%, which meets internationally accepted standards of care.