Oral intake recovery following salvage laryngectomy with circumferential free flap reconstruction in a patient with prior pharyngogastric anastomosis and chemoradiation

Description

Chloe E Coulter, Samuel J Hopper, and Gina D Jefferson describe a demanding salvage operation where a patient regained the ability to eat by mouth against steep odds. The woman had oesophageal cancer treated earlier with chemoradiation, then surgery that joined her throat to her stomach. When cancer returned beside that join, standard options ran out.

The recurrence sat in the pyriform sinus, a groove beside the voice box, touching the rebuilt food passage. Surgeons removed the larynx and throat and rebuilt the missing circle of tissue with a flap of thigh tissue carrying its own blood vessels, sewn to the stomach conduit. Scarred, irradiated tissue and poor blood supply made failure likely. Even so, healing held and she returned to oral intake. The authors present the case as proof that careful salvage reconstruction can restore eating in medically complex patients, and she remained free of disease.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13623409