Objectives: The authors seek to highlight some of the ongoing challenges related to complex oncologic reconstruction and the current solutions to these problems.
Summary: The standard of care in reconstruction following oncologic resection is continually evolving. Current frontiers in breast reconstruction include addressing animation deformity through prepectoral reconstruction, offering autologous reconstruction to patients with limited donor sites, and improving postoperative sensation with innervation of free tissue transfer. Facial nerve reconstruction and contour defects pose an ongoing challenge in patients undergoing parotidectomy requiring complex nerve transfers and autologous reconstruction. Lymphedema is not a monolithic disease, and as our understanding of the pathophysiology improves, our surgical algorithms continue to evolve.
Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of The American Society of Plastic Surgeons.