Tumors of the mouth basis, tongue root and oropharynx present a challenge for surgical treatment. High recurrence rates, poor survival, and significant postoperative alterations in speech and swallowing function are common experiences for patients with malignancies in these anatomic sites. This paper reviews the evaluation of displayed patients: pathologic features, surgical approaches and postoperative complications reported in recent managing patients with these neoplasms. A modification of usual surgical techniques has been used by the author to treat 30 tumors in this region and it is presented in this paper. Out of the 30 tumors, 4 were benign lesions and 26 were malignant neoplasms. Transmandibular approach was the method of choice. The wide field of access offers a lot of advantages: wide direct and indirect visualization, better manipulation, and good control of bleeding and light insertion of free and related composites used in primary reconstruction of postoperative defects.
Key words: tumors of the mouth base, tongue root and oropharynx, transmandibular approach, wide field of access, reconstruction
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