Free flap reconstruction for melanoma of the head and neck: indications and outcomes.

Introduction: Occasionally, patients present with locally advanced melanoma of the head and neck involving deeper structures or with bulky local recurrence in regions with pre-existing surgical scars or previous irradiation. In these circumstances surgery may offer the only likely chance of local disease control and reconstruction of the ablation defect may require microvascular reconstruction. The primary aim of this study was to assess whether there was any evidence that adopting an aggressive surgical approach provided a survival benefit for these patients.