Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:16:17.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Jejunal free-flap reconstruction complicated by development of post-irradiation sarcoma: what information should patients receive about the long-term effects of radiotherapy for head and neck tumours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

D. R. K. Smith
Affiliation:
University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
S. L. Woolley
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Bristol Royal Infirmary/Bristol Children’s Hospital, Bristol, UK.

Abstract

Jejunal free-flap reconstruction is a well recognized, reliable technique commonly used for reconstruction of the upper aero-digestive tract following surgery for malignancy, and radiotherapy is commonly used as an adjuvant treatment in such cases. Unfortunately, post-irradiation sarcomas are a well recognized complication of radiotherapy and generally have a poor prognosis. We report what we believe to be the first case of radiation-induced sarcoma in a free-flap jejunal graft and discuss the information that should be given to patients undergoing radiotherapy to head and neck tumours.

Type
Clinical Records
Copyright
© 2005 Royal Society of Medicine Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)