Rationale: After total or near-total laryngectomy and resection of prelaryngeal skin, laryngeal defects and prelaryngeal skin defects often remain a great challenge for head and neck surgeons when considering simultaneous reconstruction of. In this case report, a free bipaddled anterolateral thigh (ALT) was used for such defects reconstruction.
Patient concerns: For this 50-year-old male patient whose recurrent tumor invaded the cricoid cartilage and the prelaryngeal skin, supracricoid partial laryngectomy with a cricohyoidepiglottopexy would no longer be an option. However, the patient had a strong requirement of preserving lung-power speech, making total laryngectomy and chemoradiotherapy not acceptable.
Diagnosis: Pathologic result demonstrated well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. A PET-CT of the whole body showed extralaryngeal extension of the tumor invading the cricoids cartilage and prelaryngeal ribbon muscles and skin. Meanwhile, the video-laryngoscpy showed smooth laryngeal mucosa.
Interventions: A near-total laryngectomy and resection of prelaryngeal skin were performed. The resultant defects were reconstructed with a free bipaddled ALT flap.
Outcomes: The patient is 18 months postsurgery with no locoregion tumor recurrence, taking oral feeds, partial lung-power speech and not decannulated. Laryngostenosis was shown by the videolaryngoscopy, MRI and CT scan.
Lessons: A free bipaddled ALT flap could be utilized for simultaneous reconstruction of large larynx and prelaryngeal skin defects, and allows partial laryngeal function preservation in selected local recurrent laryngeal cancer invading the cricoid cartilage and prelaryngeal skin.