Peng Wu

and 5 more

Objective: Share our practices for the use of the supraclavicular artery island flap (SCAIF) in head and neck reconstruction. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted from October 2017 to June 2020 on patients who had undergone SCAIF reconstructions of head and neck defects in our hospital. The following data were collected: Age, gender, primary disease, type of surgical defect, flap harvest time, flap dimensions, length of hospital stay, complications and clinical outcomes. Results: Nine patients had undergone SCAIF reconstruction and three of them also had undergone pectoralis major myocutaneous flap reconstruction simultaneously. All patients were male with the average age of 60.56±11.27 years. Four reconstructions were performed to repair anterior neck skin defects or fistulae related to previous treatment. The SCAIF was used in three patients to repair defects following hypopharyngeal resection or total laryngectomy. Two reconstructions were performed to repair defects following salvage surgery of recurrent head and neck tumor. The average flap harvest time was 31.78±4.55 mins. The average flap size of was 15.22±0.63 × 5.89±0.74 cm. The average length of hospital stay was 37.67±18.48 days. No complete flap loss or major complications occurred during their stays in hospital. Two patients had partial necrosis of the distal portion of the flap. One patient developed fistula. No donor site complications and compromised shoulder function were observed. Conclusions: The SCAIF can be successfully used for reconstruction of head and neck defects with good cosmetic outcomes and limited morbidity.