Laparoscopic Harvest of the Jejunal Free Flap for Reconstruction of Hypopharyngeal and Cervical Esophageal Defects

Abstract
RECONSTRUCTION OF cervical esophageal and pharyngeal defects remains one of the greatest challenges facing head and neck and reconstructive surgeons today. During the 20th century, the jejunal free tissue transfer became a mainstay in the armamentarium of surgical techniques to address this challenge. Carrel1 first described this versatile flap in 1907. However, it was not until more than 50 years later that the jejunal flap became the first free flap to be well described clinically.2