The Effects of Preoperative Radiotherapy on Head and Neck Free Flap Anastomosis Success.

PURPOSE: The long-term survival benefit of neoadjuvant radiotherapy for oropharyngeal tumors is controversially discussed in the literature. To bring more light into this important debate, we evaluated our cases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study the main focus was the relationship between neoadjuvant irradiation and anastomosis failure. Other influencing factors including previous operative treatment and tumor stage and type also were studied. RESULTS: In total, 7 anastomoses failed (total failure rate, 8.4%; n = 83); 1 of the 7 underwent neoadjuvant irradiation (failure rate, 3.1%; n = 32). All 7 anastomosis failures were in squamous cell carcinoma cases, with 5 of them staged as T4. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that neoadjuvant radiotherapy for oropharyngeal carcinoma does not increase the risk of postoperative anastomosis failure compared with surgical reconstruction alone. Furthermore, the data suggest a correlation between the stage and type of tumor.