A Systematic Review to Evaluate the Postoperative Complications Following Free Fibula Flap for Mandibular Reconstruction in an Adult Population

Abstract

The objective is to evaluate the basic complications such as necrosis, infection, fistula, dehiscence, and hematoma at recipient site and the donor site; as well as the incidence in failure of the Free Fibula Flap when used in mandibular reconstruction. After thorough electronic search on different databases, applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, following the PRISMA guidelines and assessing the risk of bias; 6 articles were deemed eligible for this analysis. The total number of recipient site complications was the highest, i.e., 30.49% followed by the donor site complications with 9.75% and flap loss with 9.34%. The authors emphasize that success of the Free Fibula Flap depends not only on the major post-operative complications but also on the avoidance of the basic complications that occur at the recipient site as well as the donor site. KEYWORDS: Free Fibula Flap, Mandibular Reconstruction, Complications.