LASUTH records feat in head, neck surgery

Surgeons at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) have performed a successful microvascular tissue transfer in the head and neck on a patient, thus eradicating large disfiguring defects. The hospital has continually made giant strides in improving lives with its vision to be a centre of excellence in healthcare delivery.

The tertiary healthcare institution in the commercial city of Nigeria has over the years provided high-quality tertiary healthcare services to patients across the country and beyond. The teaching hospital is now positioned as a quaternary hospital and has continually promoted the development of cutting-edge surgical expertise to deliver the best possible outcome. Several high-end health solutions have been delivered thereby saving many lives and enhancing the quality of living.

Recently, surgeons at the hospital performed a microvascular free tissue transfer in the head and neck. According to Dr Eyituoyo. Okoturo, head of maxillofacial surgery unit of the Dental Department, LASUTH, said most malignant tumors of the head and neck cannot be adequately treated without extensive surgery that leaves large disfiguring defects. Reconstruction has evolved over the last century from the mere filling up of defects with local or regional flaps to microvascular free tissue transfer to ensure precise facial contour and restoring of function.

“The technique involves the transfer of a distant tissue (donor tissue) along with its vascular supply to a recipient site (defect site) of the same patient and re-establishing donor tissue blood flow from the recipient blood vessels by microvascular re-anastomosis of both sets of blood vessels (i.e., donor and recipient arteries & veins) with the use of an operating microscope.

“It provides the advantage of precise reconstruction of defects that ordinarily are not feasible with local flaps. Because of the technical difficulty associated with today’s facial reconstruction, it is now usually assisted with the use of computer-aided designs – computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) for bespoke reconstruction,” he added.

LASUTH has continued to provide advanced cutting-edge medical practice to Lagosians and Nigerians at large. The hospital is presently the only hospital in Nigeria and one of the only two in Sub-Saharan Africa providing this mode of treatment.