Craniofacial reconstructions with bone-anchored epithesis in head and neck cancer patients--a valid way back to self-perception and social reintegration.

BACKGROUND: Patients with advanced head and neck cancer often require radical and mutilating surgery resulting in severe impairment of their aesthetic self-perception and social life. Cosmetically satisfying results associated with high aesthetic self-perception and social reintegration are possible with bone-anchored epithesis representing a serious alternative to craniofacial reconstructive techniques using regional and free tissue transfer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five head and neck cancer patients treated in our Ear, Nose and Throat Department in the years 2003-2004 were evaluated after epithesial reconstruction.
RESULTS: Three out of the five patients scored self-perception after epithesial reconstruction as "very good", while social integration was scored as "very good" by three and as "satisfactory" by two patients. Daily getting along was scored as "very good" by four and as satisfactory by one patient. One patient had a very good acceptance of the epithesis as a part of the body and for four patients it was satisfactory.
CONCLUSION: For the first time, the high degree of satisfaction in head and neck cancer patients receiving epithesial reconstruction in the maxillofacial region is demonstrated.