No abstract

The surgery-first approach in orthognathic surgery has recently created a broader interest in completely eliminating time-consuming preoperative orthodontic treatment. Available evidence on the surgery-first approach should be appraised to support its use in orthognathic surgery. A MEDLINE search using the keywords "surgery first" and "orthognathic surgery" was conducted to select studies using the surgery-first approach. We also manually searched the reference list of the selected keywords to include articles not selected by the MEDLINE search. The search identified 18 articles related to the surgery-first approach. There was no randomized controlled clinical trial. Four papers were excluded as the content was only personal opinion or basic scientific research. Three studies were retrospective cohort studies in nature. The other 11 studies were case reports. For skeletal Class III surgical correction, the final long-term outcomes for maxillofacial and dental relationship were not significantly different between the surgery-first approach and the orthodontics-first approach in transverse (e.g., intercanine or intermolar width) dimension, vertical (e.g., anterior open bite, lower anterior facial height) dimension, and sagittal (e.g., anterior-posterior position of pogonion and lower incisors) dimension. Total treatment duration was substantially shorter in cases of surgery-first approach use. In conclusion, most published studies related to the surgery-first approach were mainly on orthognathic correction of skeletal Class III malocclusion. Both the surgery-first approach and orthodontics-first approach had similar long-term outcomes in dentofacial relationship. However, the surgery-first approach had shorter treatment time.

No abstract

The radial forearm flap is commonly used for reconstruction of tongue defects following tumor extirpation. This flap is easy to harvest and offers thin tissue with large-caliber vessels. However, its use leaves behind a conspicuous aesthetic deformity in the forearm and requires the sacrifice of a major artery of that limb, the radial artery. The anterolateral thigh cutaneous flap has found clinical applications in the reconstruction of soft-tissue defects requiring thin tissue. More recently, in a thinned form, the anterolateral thigh flap has been used for reconstructing defects of the tongue with functional results equivalent to that of the radial forearm flap. For the reconstruction of tongue defects, these two flaps could provide similar soft-tissue coverage, but they seem to result in different donor-site appearances. The donor site is closed primarily, leaving only a linear scar that is inconspicuous with normal clothing, and no functional deficit is left behind in the thigh. Thus, for the supply of flaps for tongue defects, a comparison between the radial forearm flap and the anterolateral thigh flap donor sites is provided in this study. Between December of 2000 and August of 2002, 41 patients who underwent reconstruction of defects of the tongue using either a radial forearm flap or an anterolateral thigh flap were evaluated. The focus was on the evaluation of the functional and aesthetic outcome of the donor site after harvesting these flaps for the purpose of reconstructing either total or partial tongue defects. Finally, a comparison was performed between the donor sites of the two flaps. The disadvantages of the radial forearm flap include the conspicuous unattractive scar in the forearm region, pain, numbness, and the sacrifice of a major artery of the limb. In some patients, the donor-site scar of the forearm acted as a social stigma, preventing these patients from leading a normal life. In contrast, the anterolateral thigh cutaneous flap, after thinning, achieved the same results in reconstructing defects of the tongue without the associated donor-site morbidity. Most importantly, the donor site in the thigh could be closed primarily in almost all patients without any functional deficit. The thinned anterolateral thigh cutaneous flap is a viable substitute for the radial forearm flap when reconstructing defects of the tongue. The results achieved are similar to those of the radial forearm flap, and the donor-site morbidity is significantly decreased.