Successful management of the cervicothoracic esophagus reconstruction by expanded skin flap.

The limited availability of reconstruction materials can often make it difficult to treat defects in the esophagus caused by necrosis of the transplanted intestinal tissue after cervicothoracic esophagus reconstruction. We were forced to perform flap reconstruction on a patient who suffered necrosis due to impeded blood flow of the transplanted intestinal tract after twice conducting cervicothoracic esophagus reconstruction with an intestinal tract flap. The procedure we performed was esophagus reconstruction using a pectoralis major myocutaneous flap that had been expanded with a tissue expander due to the small volume of tissue available to perform the reconstruction. This case suggested that esophagus reconstruction with a skin flap using a tissue expander should be considered as a possible treatment choice when performing reconstruction of the cervicothoracic esophagus, which requires stable blood flow and a large amount of tissue.
(Copyright © 2014 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)