Intraoral microvascular anastomosis for segmental mandibular reconstruction following removal of an ameloblastoma.

Cases of immediate bony microvascular reconstruction following segmental mandibulectomy in children are hard to find in the current literature. Moreover, microvascular segmental mandibular reconstruction that adopts an intraoral anastomosis technique has not been described so far. Therefore, the present clinical report aims at extending the armamentarium of bony microvascular reconstruction in pediatric cases of segmental mandibulectomy by highlighting an intraoral microvascular anastomosing technique.A 6-year-old boy, who suffered from an ameloblastoma of the mural type in the mandible, received a radical segmental mandibular resection because of the high recurrence rate of this tumor entity. Immediate reconstruction was carried out with a fibular double-barrel graft. Microvascular anastomoses were performed in an end-to-end fashion with the facial artery and vein as recipient vessels. The postoperative course was uneventful. There was no impairment of speech, deglutition, mastication, and facial nerve function. The facial appearance remained unobtrusive. On removal of the reconstruction plate 3 months after the reconstruction procedure, bleeding from the reconstructed mandibular segment indicated vascularization of the graft.It seems that segmental mandibulectomy and simultaneous microvascular bony reconstruction do not necessarily lead to impaired function as far as speech, deglutition, and mastication are concerned. Instead, the intraoral anastomosis technique allows waiving extraoral skin incisions and subsequent scarring, leaving the facial appearance unchanged and unobtrusive. Especially, the potential risk of stigmatization of the patient is avoided. Therefore, decision making in the choice of 1 or the other reconstruction option following segmental mandibulectomy should always consider the adoption of an intraoral anastomosing technique.