Reconstruction after tumour's excision in lip's cancer: report of 100 cases

OBJECTIVE: Cancer of the lips is a frequent pathology, it represents 1/5 of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract. Its objectives are to present the experience of the plastic and reconstructive surgery unit of the universitary hospital of Casablanca. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors present a retrospective study about 100 cases of lips cancer treated between January 1999 and December 2002. RESULTS: The average age is 59 years. The sex-ratio is 7.3. Eighty-five percent of our patients were smokers and 22% were alcoholics, the association alcoholic and smoker was found in 20%. In our study 71% were classified T1-T2 and 29% as T3-T4. The tumoral location was the lower lip in 82% and the upper lip in 10%. The histological study showed a squamous cell carcinoma type in 85% and a basal-cell carcinoma type in 14% of cases. After the tumour's excision, the reparation was done by cross-lip flap in 25%, the naso-lateral flap in 16% and the Gillies flap in 8%. The functional result was good in 92% of cases and the aesthetic result was excellent in 60% of cases and good in 30% of cases. The survival rate at 2 year was 90%. CONCLUSION: Actually, lip's cancer treatment is essentially surgical. The reconstructive techniques are various, depending on the size and location of the loss of substance.