The combined use of muscle flaps and alloplasts for tracheal reconstruction.

This report documents our experience with a different concept in reconstructive head and neck surgery. This concept, we hoped, would enable us to reconstruct anatomic regions with a special contour that is otherwise difficult to achieve with conventional flaps and grafts. The first stage of this method includes implantation of a preshaped alloplastic material in a donor site of a commonly used myocutaneous flap and waiting 4 to 6 weeks for the implant to "take." The second stage includes raising the pedicled flap with the implant and transferring it to reconstruct the defect. As a model for this approach, tracheal defects in dogs were created and reconstructed. The technique used in this study can be specifically applied to reconstruction of tracheal defects, ie, subglottic stenosis, and also can be used for other defects in the head and neck region.