Quality of life and survival assessments of tissue defect salvage reconstruction with pectoralis major myocutaneous flap following oral-maxillofacial malignancy resection

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of life and survival of pectoralis major myocutaneous flap (PMMF) in soft tissue defect after resection of oral and maxillofacial malignancies. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 56 patients who underwent oral and maxillofacial malignancy removal with tissue defect from 1st January 2015 to 1st January 2018. The Chinese version of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head & Neck scale and the Kaplan-Meier method were used to assess the quality of life and survival rate, respectively. Results: The grafted PMMFs had a satisfactory survival condition in all 56 cases. Compared with the preoperative period, the questionnaire at 6 months postoperatively showed a remarkable improvement in patients’ physical well-being, social/family well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being, additional head and neck concerns as well as total score (P < 0.05). Moreover, the 3-year and 5-year survival rates calculated by Kaplan-Meier method were 48.2% and 42.1%, respectively. Conclusions: Within the restrictions of this study, PMMF is a promising method for salvage reconstruction of tissue defects after oral-maxillofacial malignancy resection due to it’s constant anatomical structure, abundant tissue volume, high survival rate and effective improvement of patients’ quality of life.