Efficacy of temporal musculopericranial flap for reconstruction of the anterior base of the skull

Since March 1988 the temporal musculopericranial (TMP) flap has been used as our flap of choice to reconstruct defects of the anterior base of the skull that are larger than 2 x 3 cm, including the dura mater, in 33 patients. The primary diseases were malignant head and neck tumours (n = 16), trauma (n = 15), meningioma (n = 1), and teratoma (n = 1). The dura mater was reconstructed with a unilateral TMP flap, after which the cranial and nasal cavities were closed with the opposite TMP flap. In addition, bone was grafted by sandwiching the bone between the two flaps and fixing it to the surrounding residual bone. When a large area was resected, making it impossible to use a TMP flap, a frontal musculopericranial (FMP) flap or a free flap (usually the rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap) was used to close the cranial and nasal cavities. Thirty of the 33 patients recovered with no postoperative complications. Two patients developed extradural abscesses in the anterior base of the skull and one developed mild meningitis, but they were successfully treated conservatively. When bilateral TMP flaps were used for the reconstruction, no patient had aesthetic problems in the forehead region. The TMP flap is extremely effective for the reconstruction of the anterior base of the skull because it is minimally invasive and causes few aesthetic problems in the forehead region.