Closure of post laryngectomy pharyngocutaneous fistula with sternocleidomastoid muscle flap.

A pharyngocutaneous fistula is an irritating and intractable complication following laryngectomy. These fistulae not only prolong the hospital stay of the patient but pose a potential danger of saliva eroding the carotid vessels. The sternocleidomastoid muscle has a number of uses in reconstructive surgery of the head and neck region and most small or medium sized defects can be closed by use of this muscle flap. This paper reports the use of this muscle flap for the closure of pharyngocutaneous fistulae in 4 cases. All the patients had large fistulae which had not healed after 8 weeks and had prior irradiation. There was no recurrent fistula in these cases.