Journal Reviews

Fibula free flap virtual or freehand planning and the efficiency of surgery

2 November 2020 | | Head and Neck | CAD-CAM, computer aided surgery, fibula free flap, free flap, microvascular surgery, virtual surgery planning

This is a systematic review from surgeons in Italy and Florida where, from an initial 799 potentially relevant articles, only six could be included. Efficiency was assessed by the mean ischemia time which, for the virtual group, was 73.8 minutes,...

What is the evidence for duration of antibiotic prophylaxis in head and neck free-flap cases?

1 May 2018 | | clean-contaminated, free flaps, microvascular surgery, prophylactic antibiotics, surgical site infection

The topic of this systematic review is one which is commonly heard in discussions between microbiologists and head and neck surgeons – what is the evidence for antibiotic prophylaxis in clean-contaminated free-flap cases, and crucially, how long should antibiotics be...