Surgical technique--the strap muscle flap.

The authors describe the use of the infrahyoid ("strap") muscles as a muscle transposition flap to obliterate the "dead space" created during resection of the anterior floor of the mouth for carcinoma concomitant with suprahyoid neck dissection or radical neck dissection. The flap is particularly useful if the mandible is partially resected and immediately stabilized with a steel pin or bolt.