32. History
• Tongue flaps introduced by lexer in 1909
• Properrties
• Relaible
• Easily obtanable
• Excellent vascularity
• Large ammount of tissue
• Usually for large defects
34. Indications
• Moderate size defect 3 to 5 cm
• Defects where bone is exposed eg marginal
mandibulectomy
• Defects close to RMT
• High risk patients
• Repair of large fistulas in palate
37. Used for
• Surgical defects of wide local excision
• Marginal mandibulectomy
• Buccal mucosa defect post early carcinoma excision
• It does not limit mobility of tongue
• Primary closure of donor area
• Single stage procedure
• Based on dorsal lingual artery
39. • Offer greater mobility
• More versatile
• Anterior cheek and commissural defect
• Can replace lining and vermilion of lips
• Floor of mouth
• Oronasal defects in cleft lip
• Excisional defects of hard pallate
• Needs secound stage surgery
41. • Based on branches of dorsal lingual artery
• Layer of intrinsic muscle included in flap
• Usually created in bi pedicle form
• Transferred to floor of mouth
• Decrease length of tongue
43. • Perimeter flap developed by vertical incision
just inside and parallel to border of tongue
these
• flaps can be uni or b I pedicle
• Repair of lip vermilion defects
• Highly vascular by anastomotic ranine arch
45. • Derived from lingual tip by horizontal incision
• Are wide then long
• Reflected dorsally for upper lip reconstruction
• Reflected ventrally on anterior base for lower lip
reconstruction
• Tongue shortening
47. • Repair of anterior floor of mouth
• Two parallel lengthwise posterior based flaps are
reflected and rotated to anterior defect
• Resultant defect skin grafted
• For vermilion recon also
49. • Posterior tongue defects present a unique
reconstructive challenge
• A novel sliding anterior hemitongue flap to allow
reconstruction of moderate resection defects (i.e. for
T1-T2 tongue squamous cell carcinomas)
• Lateral orientation of lingual; neurovascular allows
division of remaining tongue through the median
fibrous septum
50. Case 1
• Anteriorly Based Tongue Flap for Closure of
a Posterior Palatal Defect in a Patient with
Exaggerated Gag Reflex
51. 3 X 2 cm defect of left soft palate. Dense scar tissue formation at left margin
from previous skin grafts at time of ablative surgery.
63. Summary
• Tongue flaps have been used in the field of oral
and maxillofacial reconstruction over the past
100 year
• In 1909, Lexer documented the first use of a
posteriorly based dorsal tongue flap for the
management of retro-molar and tonsillar
defects.
• Tongue flaps have a long standing history in
oral and maxillofacial reconstruction
• Extremely successful with minimal morbidity.