Clinical Application of Amniotic Membrane as a Biologic Dressing in Oral Cavity and Pharyngeal Defects after Tumor Resection

Oropharyngeal malignancies represent management challenges for the head and neck surgeons. Tumor resection and reconstruction with graft is the standard treatment. Split-thickness skin grafts are routinely used to cover the mucosal defects arising from resections. As amniotic membrane (AM) is used as a dressing substitute in burn, we decided to evaluate the efficacy of AM as a biologic wound dressing material for surgical defects of mucosa in the oropharyngeal region. This was a single- institution prospective study which included 50 patients with primary oropharyngeal malignancy who underwent tumor resection between March 2010 and November 2011, and were up for two to 20 months after the surgical procedure.We used amniotic membrane (AM) for dressing of the defects in the oral cavity and pharynx under general anesthesia. Efficacy of this procedure was assessed by rating of the pain and granulation tissue formation with surface epithelialization at the site of graft. The results were evaluated in the postoperative period. Forty males (80 %) and 10 females (20%) were participated, age from 20 to 80 years with a mean age of 50 ± 10.41 years. The patients underwent partial glossectomy, or floor of mouth resection according to tumor location. Complete adherence of AM to the wound was detected in all cases. Allergy either systemic or local was not reported in any of the cases. The membrane was very effective in 40 patients, and effective in 10 cases. Amniotic membrane (AM) can be used as a biologic dressing material for covering the mucosal defects in the oropharynx.