Free Flap Transplantation on the repair of defects caused by oral and maxillofacial tumors resection: Repair of defects caused by oral & maxillofacial tumors resection

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of free flap transplantation on the repair of tissue defects after oral and maxillofacial malignant tumor resection and its effects on serum sialic acid (SA) and interleukin-2 (IL-2).

Methods: Fifty-eight patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors were enrolled and set as the observation group. After the tumor resection, free flap transplantation was performed for postoperative repair. The postoperative efficacy, adverse reactions and follow-up indicators were observed. Moreover, 55 patients with benign tumors were enrolled into the control group, and 55 healthy persons were set as the healthy group. The levels of SA and IL-2 of the three groups were detected.

Results: In the observation group, 55 patients were successfully repaired (94.83%); 15 patients had adverse reactions after surgery. The follow-up duration was two to four years, and 45 patients survived for three years, with a survival rate of 77.59%. Before treatment, the serum SA level of patients with oral malignant tumor was significantly higher than those of the control group and healthy group, while the IL-2 level was significantly lower than those of the other two groups, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The serum IL-2 level in the observation group one day and fourteen days after surgery was higher than that before surgery, while the serum SA level was lower than that before surgery; the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The application of free flap transplantation in the repair of postoperative tissue defects of oral and maxillofacial tumor resection is effective and has less complications, and the determination of both serum SA and IL-2 levels offers important references to recovery of patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors and prognosis evaluation.