Versatility of Superficial Temporal Artery Pedicle for Postburn Facial Reconstruction: Our Center experience

OBJECTIVES Superficial temporal artery (STA) is the one of the terminal branches of external carotid artery. Superficial temporal artery divides into frontal and parietal terminal branches. Various types of locoregional flaps can be based on the STA as a pedicle to provide effective and robust cover. In this article, we shall discuss the various applications of STA and its terminal branches as a pedicle for postburn facial reconstruction in our clinical experience of more than 20 years. METHODS This is a retrospective review of 531 cases of postburn facial reconstruction using STA and one its terminal branches as a pedicle done at Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Lok Nayak Hospital, which is tertiary care government hospital in New Delhi for burn care from March 2000 to March 2020. We started use of this flap initially for postburn ear reconstruction cases and slowly expanded our indications over the period of time due to its high vascularity and versatile nature. There were 269 females and 262 males included in this review. RESULTS We have used STA and one its terminal branches as a pedicle to our advantage with varied indications and excellent results. We had minor complications which were easily manageable with 7 cases of partial flap loss and zero case of total flap loss. We shall discuss all the details in our review. CONCLUSIONS We wish to conclude that STA and one its terminal branches as a pedicle offers excellent versality and vascularity for postburn facial reconstruction with good long-standing results.