Cancer resection, reconstruction surgery involving mouth performed

Chandigarh, July 4, 2019: A rare microsurgery after cancer resection has been performed successfully on a 45-yr man with squamous cell carcinoma involving upper and lower lips at a Panchkula private hospital recently.

Ramesh (name changed) was admitted in Alchemist Hospital with the growth on the lips for the past one and half years which had increased significantly in past 6-month.

Giving details Dr. Kanwarneet an oncosurgeon-resection and Dr. Varun Singla a plastic surgeon-reconstruction who performed surgery said that on examination the patient was suspected to have a squamous cell carcinoma (cancer of mouth ) involving the upper and lower lips, the right commissure and the cheek mucosa along with the mandible.

They informed further that subsequently after confirming the carcinoma diagnosis and doing basic investigations like CT and ultrasound, patient was taken up for surgery with a plan for resection of the involved areas that is the skin of the cheek, lips and the mucosa along with involved mandible.

“This was an extensive resection which would normally require two or more flaps with significant morbidity at the donor site. So to reduce the morbidity, a chimeric free flap ALT (Thigh Skin and underlying muscle on same artery) was planned. It was used to cover all the defects created.”

The 10-hr surgery involved extensive and difficult cancer resection and the subsequent extremely fine microsurgery needed to reconstruct the defect created, said doctors.

The surgery went without any problems and the flap survived without any complications. Patient is stable now recovering with minimal problems.