Quality-of-life outcomes of the patients with tongue cancer following reconstruction with free forearm flap / 中华口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the quality-of-life outcomes in patients with tongue cancer following reconstruction with free forearm flap.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes of 112 patients of tongue reconstruction with free forearm flap were assessed using University of Washington head and neck QOL questionnaire (UW-QOL). The QOL outcomes of the patients with different defect range and site were also compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The overall mean QOL scores of the 112 patients was 959.6, which reached about 80% (960/1200) of the overall score. The QOL scores of the patients with defects not more than 1/2 tongue (more than 1/3 tongue) were significantly higher than those with defects more than 1/2 tongue (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the QOL scores of the patients with and without tongue base defect (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Free forearm flap is a good choice for tongue reconstruction and more suitable for the reconstruction of the defects not more than 1/2 tongue (more than 1/3 tongue).</p>