ENT: Surgery time for free tissue transfer significantly reduced

For several years, a complex microsurgical procedure called free flap surgery has been performed for head and neck cancer at the University Hospital Vienna and MedUni Vienna's Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases. With this method of reconstructive tumour surgery, tissue is removed from one part of the body and then reconnected to the bloodstream under a microscope and transferred to another part of the body. An evaluation at the University Hospital for Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases now shows that the operating time for flap transplants has been drastically reduced in recent years. An important contribution to the increasing expertise on this intervention is due to the participation in fellowship programs abroad. Since 2011, the University Hospital Vienna and MedUni Vienna's Department of Otorhinolaryngology have been performing independent resection and reconstruction of head and neck carcinomas using free flap surgery. In this method of reconstructive tumour surgery, head and neck carcinomas or larger skin carcinomas are first removed within one operation; subsequently, the affected mucous membrane or skin area is reconstructed. The surgical procedures are performed by two teams operating simultaneously.