Anterolateral Thigh Free Flap Reconstruction of Parotidectomy Defect
Kunal A. Koka, BS1,2; Quentin C. Durfee, BS1; Veenadhari Kollipara, BA1,2; Emily K. Funk, MD2; Guy Slonimsky, MD2; Neerav Goyal, MD, MPH, FACS2
1Penn State College of Medicine
2Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Anterolateral Thigh (ALT) free flap is a widely utilized technique for the reconstruction of head and neck soft tissue defects. Key steps of this procedure include flap design for reconstruction of surgical defect, identification and dissection of perforator vessels and vascular pedicle for harvest of the anterolateral thigh free flap, microvascular anastomosis of the pedicle to head and neck vessels, and flap inset for reconstruction at recipient site. The ALT free flap is a versatile tool that can be utilized for reconstruction throughout the body but is very frequently utilized for reconstruction in oncologic resections of the head and neck. In this case, it was utilized for reconstruction of a soft tissue defect resulting from a parotidectomy with resulting skin and soft tissue defect, performed for removal of a mucoepidermoid carcinoma.