Microvascular Free Flap

If there is a defect in part of the body (i.e., surgical removal of a tumor that leaves an area without skin or anatomic structures), the microvascular free flap technique can be used to surgically repair the defect; mainly, tissue from one part of the body (i.e., a muscle from the back) can be used to replace and repair the missing tissue in the part of the body with the defect. A multitude of areas of the body have been identified that have an artery and vein that are vital to the success of the transfer. The blood supply to that tissue, known as a free flap, is interrupted at the “donor site” and then reconnected to an artery and vein in the head and neck near the defect known as the recipient site. Free flaps are selected based on their composition of bone, muscle and/or skin depending on the type of tissue required to reconstruct the defect. The removal of that free flap usually does not cause significant problems at the donor site. Due to the fact that the flap is transferred from one part of a patient’s body to another, there is no risk of immunologic rejection, which can happen when an organ is transferred from one individual to another. This surgical technique is challenging and must be performed at specialized centers.