For patients with tongue cancer and oral cancer, the defect of facial appearance may require long-term psychological construction more than cancer. Miss Wu, 49, neglected the long-term tongue ulcer because of her long-term work. When she was diagnosed with stage III tongue cancer a few years ago, she once collapsed, fearing that the scar on her face would make her lose her job. After that, the plastic surgery team of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital performed seamless facial resection and facial reconstruction, and with regular follow-up, she successfully returned to work and regained her old smile.

The plastic surgery team of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has developed a facial reconstruction surgery, and the patient's face is completely scar-free, so that patients can regain their confidence as soon as possible. (The photo is not the event itself) Psychological reconstruction of patients with oral cancer has a long way to go.

Zhang, chief physician of plastic surgery at Chiayi Chang Gung Hospital, said that oral cancers mainly include lip cancer, tongue cancer and buccal mucosa cancer. When traditional surgery is used to remove tumor, it is necessary to destroy the lip, chin and orbicularis oris muscle first, which not only causes appearance defects, but also causes problems such as scar twinning and lip valgus, which affects speech, swallowing and eating functions, and the re-fixed mandible may also heal poorly.

In particular, changes in appearance often make patients uncomfortable. For example, Miss Wu, who was originally sunny and enthusiastic, was afraid of surgery after getting cancer, so she repeatedly asked the doctor not to leave scars on her face. Fortunately, after evaluating the condition, the plastic surgery team performed a seamless facial operation, which lasted for 8 hours and was hospitalized for 2 weeks after the operation. The patient was discharged smoothly.

Seamless facial reconstruction with reference to parachute suture

Dr. Zhang said that in recent years, the plastic surgery medical team of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has developed a seamless facial reconstruction operation considering the parachute suture method commonly used in cardiac surgery. There is no scar on the patient's face at all, leaving only 8 ~ 10 cm scar on the neck.

The operation is different from the traditional sawing from the mandible, and only the transverse incision of the neck is used to widely remove the lesions including cervical lymph, floor of mouth and tongue. In the follow-up micro-reconstruction surgery in plastic surgery, the fixed flap and suture were reconstructed by micro-transplantation only using the space of oral cavity and the only neck wound, which not only had ideal appearance, but also recovered the swallowing and speaking functions quickly.

At present, Chiayi Chang Geng has reconstructed 14 cases of asymptomatic tongue cancer. Compared with traditional surgery, there is not much difference in success rate and operation time, but the appearance and function of patients have made great progress. This excellent technique has been accepted by the World Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (WSRM) and will be presented at its regular annual meeting in Chicago in July this year.

However, not all patients with oral cancer are suitable for facial surgery, and the tumors are concentrated in soft tissues such as the floor of the tongue, the floor of the mouth or a part of the tongue. If cancer cells have invaded or approached the skin, facial tissue still needs local resection.