A recent study by a team including researchers from UCSF Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) assessed the success rates and compilations associated with vascularized versus nonvascularized adipofascial grafts for parotidectomy reconstruction.
In the retrospective case series, the research team led by senior author, P. Daniel Knott, MD, reviewed patients who went through adipofascial anterolateral thigh (AFALT) free tissue transfer or free fat transfer (FFT) after parotidectomy between January 2010 to January 2020. The team share the findings in the paper, "Outcomes of Vascularized Versus Nonvascularized Adipofascial Grafts for Parotidectomy Reconstruction."
Using group comparisons and logistic regression, the authors analyzed the predictors of outcomes like flap failure, return to surgery, infection and delay to adjuvant treatment.
"Although used in more advanced disease and in a more heavily treated wound bed, the AFALT free flap was safe and associated with fewer infectious complications than that offered by FFT," concluded the authors.
Fifth-year resident Gaelen Stanford-Moore, MD, MPhil, was the first author on the paper. Additional co-authors include Andrea Park, MD, Rahul Seth, MD, from UCSF OHNS, UCSF School of Medicine student and Prendergast Research Fellow Arushi Gulati and colleagues from Emory University School of Medicine and Virginia Tech University. This work was published in Facial Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Medicine.
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