Patients undergoing surgery for removal of cancer from the mouth often have large openings in the palate (roof of the mouth) where the cancer had been, leaving them unable to eat, drink or speak normally unless the defect is somehow repaired.
One solution is the surgical reassignment of a muscle normally used for chewing to fill the space left in the palate, a procedure that has been advanced at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and has produced excellent results for head and neck cancer patients.
About the Procedure
Having done 400 major head and neck reconstruction procedures over the past decade, J. Dale Browne, M.D., a professor of otolaryngology, is one of the region’s leading experts in both the microvascular replacement of bone and soft tissue and the use of the temporalis muscle for palate repair. He will perform the procedure on Tuesday, May 16 at 5 p.m.
Although he didn’t invent it, Browne has developed the use of the temporalis muscle to rebuild the palate following removal of palatal and nearby malignancies, and is one of the few surgeons in the country doing it routinely.
Many surgeons who treat these problems rely on a prosthetic device such as a modified denture that fills the defect created by the removal of the tumor. This approach presents multiple concerns, including repeated remodeling of the device to achieve a satisfactory fit.
The temporalis muscle reassignment, however, is done as part of the initial surgery and can provide superior results. In a paper published in Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Browne reported that 15 of 16 patients studied were able to resume their preoperative diets, with no speech problems and no need for repeated surgical intervention. Browne has since performed more than 60 of these procedures and continues to see positive results.