Pedicle Flaps Contribute to Endoscopic Skull-Base Surgery and Facial Soft-Tissue Repair: The Diuturnity of Johannes Fredericus Samuel Esser (1877–1946)

Pedicle flaps based on the external maxillary (facial) artery were introduced during the World War I, precisely a century ago. Today they remain effective tools in facial soft-tissue repair. Recently, pedicle flaps based on the internal maxillary (sphenopalatine) artery have been chosen to reliably close dural defects after endoscopic skull-base surgery. Pedicle flaps, “biologic” to the extent they are based on a defined arterial blood supply, are the lasting contributions—the diuturnity”of Johannes (“Jan”) Fredericus Samuel Esser (1877–1946) of Leiden, Holland, and Chicago (IL).